Pouliuli 8
Rent from DeepDyve- Pouliuli 8
To Edwina Gogo‘sina Ulberg and Kake Ulberg
You are speaking To me in Samoan I laugh, you laugh too, your body becomes a siva, as you talk in the language of youth
Before I came to Niu Sila Pouliuli dwelt only in the Depth of midnight.
Before I came to Niu Sila the Sun and moon cleared the path to My Father’s tethered horse
You are speaking To me in Samoan I cry, you cry too your body becomes a twisted Aoa. You become the stories filling my eyes that come to me in terror
Before I came to Niu Sila Poululi only existed within creases of Vā; the patterned malu on my thighs [End Page 394]
Before I came to Niu Sila I watched the day break With my sister on my knee
Doug Poole is of Samoan and English descent. He is descendant of Tuailemafua of Safune, Savai‘i, and the Ulberg Aiga of Tulaele, Apia, Upolo. Doug is the creator and editor of blackmail press, an online poetry journal since June 2001. Doug has published in various online journals, including Niu Voices: Contemporary Pacific Fiction (2006).
Glossary
- aoa
-
banyan tree
- malu
-
tattoo worn by high-ranking women
- Niu Sila
-
New Zealand
- siva
-
type of Samoan dance
- vā
-
concept of space time and relativity; the space between all things [End Page 395]
