10-05-2017, 01:36 AM
Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.
Topic 05: Write a poem inspired by a historical figure or event in NZ.
Current celebrities can be included https://www.backpackerguide.nz/9-celebri...w-zealand/
Historical figures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealan...ory_Makers
NZ as seen by a literary visitor https://www.jstor.org/stable/40542877?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
or the neglected stories of Maori leaders https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/maori-leaders - one of whom, Te Rauparaha, wrote poetry, some say including NZ’s most famous song/poem, the haka we call Ka mate, the one the All Blacks adopted, and use before matches. (Others say this is a haka from long ago, that Te Rauparaha would have learned as a teenager.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Rauparaha
Form : any
Line requirements: 8 lines or more
Hone Heke’s revenge
I cut down the weeds
at Kororāreka, three times
so they couldn’t set seed,
and spread.
Wikiteria lied to us all,
took our mana. I should never
have signed Tiriti.
Yankee whalers had warned me.
For that, I flew no Union Jack,
but the Stars and Stripes,
proudly, from the stern
of my war canoe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagstaff_War
Wikiteria, (Queen) Victoria
mana, power
Tiriti, Treaty (of Waitangi)