2023 NaPM 9 April

[RiverNotch]

2017 actually had TWO NaPMs, one for April and one for October, the latter hosted by just mercedes. The October NaPM's biggest prompt, its opener, is also one of the simplest, despite its rather long blurb:

(I'm posting this a day early, so if anyone isn't clear or has questions, PM me. Otherwise just post your poem as a reply. The next prompt will be posted on October 2. Remember NZ gets the day first, so you may become confuzzled. That's a good state to be in, for a writer.   )

Your prompt is Gold.
 
Bright, fine gold.
 
Start with the gold of the Otago Gold Rush, 1861
 
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/first-maj...ago-starts
 
and the luminous story told in NZ author Ruth Park’s 1957 novel ab0ut the Otago gold rush, ‘One-a-pecker, two-a-pecker’,
 
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/park-ruth/
 
or the history of the song
 
http://folksong.org.nz/bright_fine_gold/brfigold1.html
 
or the song itself https://youtu.be/ycesI2VCvJo
 
or maybe just the sounds of the names Wangapeka, Tuapeka
 
or the fact that although gold was found all over Aotearoa New Zealand, Maori had never used or valued it - too soft for tools, and not attractive to them. They wore feathers, stones, shells, and bones, for decoration.

Minimum number of lines: 8
Form: Free verse