1 Poem by Vaughan Rapatahana

park plaques

[ka moe whakaaio ki te mate – Māori - sleep peacefully in death]

we sight them
straight away.
chaperoning   i n d i s c r i m i n a t e   trees
scarcely taller than themselves.
our dog could not care less
sprinkling a territory as wayward as theirs
and sprinting on some occult arc
only he can comprehend.

we stroll to ponder
their names, their dates,
their abbreviate lives;
reflecting on our own.
there seems no connectivity/between
kahikatea and john konia (1927-2003)
                    &
pohutukawa and mere jane williams (1985-1999);
except
                                     perhaps,
some emic
umbilical cord
c o n j u g a t i n g   us all.

the dog barks                                                                                                 distant:
                                               he’s gone feral.
while   they   will               never
budge.

[Note: kahikatea and pohutukawa are both New Zealand native trees]


Bionote

Rapatahana is a New Zealand Māori, on a constant triangular tour between three abodes - Pampanga, Philippines; Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong; Morenawhira, Aotearoa New Zealand. His latest collection of poetry, Atonement, was nominated for a Philippine National Book Award in 2016. He won the inaugural Proverse Poetry prize in 2016.
New Zealand Book Council Writers File: http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Rapatahana%2c%20Vaughan
Winner of 2016 International Proverse Poetry Prize: http://www.proversepublishing.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/PPPInfo_T_B_posted_on_2016_Nov_22a.32761244.pdf
Published 2014:         Expand Your Mind with Poetry Books One and Two (Essential Resources, Aotearoa-New Zealand)      http://www.essentialresources.co.nz/Products.aspx?SubjectID=&SeriesID=SER5808&NewReleases=True&Featured=False
(Co-Editor) OutLoud Too  - an anthology of Hong Kong poets (mccm creations, Hong Kong)
http://www.mccmcreations.com/books/custom%20&%20culture/outloud-too/main.htm          (Co-Editor)
Published  2015:        Atonement (ASM/Flying Islands, Macau and MCCM Creations, Hong Kong) - a new collection of poems http://www.mccmcreations.com/#!atonement/c1wyx
Published 2016:       Atonement (University of Santo Tomas Press, Philippines)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.947880961966313.1073741876.100616736692744&type=3
Why English? Confronting the Hydra (Multilingual Matters, U.K.) - a follow up to English Language as Hydra, 2012. (Co-Editor) http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?K=9781783095841       Why so serious and Better to jaw-jaw than to war-war  (The Commercial Press, Hong Kong) http://www.cp1897.com.hk/books_authors.php?display_type=details&number_per_page=15&sort_type=pudate_new&page=1&authors_code=04640096&keywords=Vaughan+Rapatahana&cl=English
(Co-editor.) Published 2017:    Colin Wilson's Lulu (Paupers Press, Nottingham, England)
Forthcoming:   An Introduction to English language Idioms (The Commercial Press, Hong Kong)
                         Multicultural Oceania (Essential Resources, Christchurch, New Zealand)