So much talk about revolutions at the moment... they 'occupy' movement (oh such an unfortunate word to use - these countries are already occupied!!)... the backlash against the slow govt response to the oil crisis at home... NZ's decision to spend money on rugby rather than child poverty... etc...
It's important to be connected with all of these movements, to be informed about them, to know what the issues are... but also to keep our eyes on the other struggles which continue to matter...
Like poetry... Maori poetry... the publication of Maori poetry... as far as I am aware (and I've verified this with one other person but would love to be proved wrong!) only two (yes two!!) new Maori poets have published their first collections of poetry in the entire twenty first century to date. Yep, that's 2 poets in 11 years. 5 1/2 years each. This despite the massive number of highly talented, enthusiastic and productive Maori poets all around Aotearoa, Australia, Hawaii, and the rest of the world... who cannot get their books into publication...
This, my friends, has got to change. I'm just saying.
(And doing...)
No comments:
Post a Comment