In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

45 Fa‘a Fafine Poem Number Three In the old stories, there is always a couple Whose children all have the same name If it was Fatu, they were all called Fatu If it was ‘Ele‘ele, they were all ‘Ele‘ele Until something memorable occurred Then each received their very own name When I became a poet I renamed myself Taulaitu, demon anchor When my mother named me Taulapapa, And we cannot name ourselves Generations generations ago a young woman, married to an important walking ulcer, ran away with his nephew And their ship could find no shelter except a cliff, papa, to which they anchored, taula They had a child there Taulapapa, from whom both my parents descended Our lines come from the black sky and from the deep black sea ...

Share