Tag Archives: poetry

Discover Love Festival Poetry Competition winner!

19 February 2013 – 9.40am

Valentine’s Day is over, but let’s keep the love in our hearts with some love poetry from Te Papa’s visitors. Children visiting Inspiration Station were asked to write a poem about love. It could be about a person (like your mum or dad), a thing (like a hobby or pet), or a place (like Te Papa!). Anything, as long as they loved it!

From Beatnik to Shakespearean, we had all styles. With no further ado, here are the winning poems!

4 to 8 category winner!

Phoebe Hayward, age 4:

I love to swim in the pool

It is cool

It is cold

I’ll still love swimming when I’m old

It is cool, having a pool, at my school

4 to 8 category highly commended

Shakira, age 8:

Love is a feeling from deep inside, it’s not just a little feeling, it’s deep down in you.

The most important feeling of all

Rahzel Solomon, age 5:

I love you,

You love me,

We are the best in the coutry.

9 to 12 category winner!

Briana Ranstead, age 10:

I’m falling, falling, falling cause you’re all I see.

Thinking, thinking, thinking of you, and of me.

My mind is always with you, my heart, body and soul.

Your spirit’s always wild, like a young, galloping foal.

I have just one thing to tell you, and I really hope you see:

I really really LOVE you, you, and me.

9 to 12 category highly commended

Georgina, age 9:

Love is like a lobster sometimes

It is sharp but it tastes good!

Trinity, age 10:

Love is contagious

like a flu or cold

I love my family

so I write it in BOLD!

We were really impressed with our young poets. I hope you like them as much as we did!

By ruthbhendry | Posted in Kids | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Queen Sälote of Tonga (1900–65) composer and poet

5 September 2012 – 5.16pm

 This week is Tongan Language Week – Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e Lea Faka-Tonga. This is the third blog post where the Pacific Cultures team highlight collection items that relate to Tongan language and culture. 

In Tongan Language week it is difficult to look past the contributions of Tonga’s Queen Sälote (1900–65) to the preservation and creative use of the Tongan language. Queen Sälote was a celebrated writer of poetry and song. She composed over one hundred songs, lullabies, laments and dances.[i]

Nuku’alofa Tonga 1963 photographer Ans Westra

Queen Sälote has a connection withNew Zealand that began in 1909 when she was sent to school in Auckland where she stayed until she was 14. She visited New Zealand regularly throughout her life. In 1952, the Tongan government bought an Auckland residence, ‘Atalanga. This became Queen Sälote’s home away from home and later included a hostel for Tongans studying in Auckland. Her visits were mostly private, but she was acknowledged by both government officials and Mäori dignitaries.

When Queen Sälote died in 1965, she was deeply mourned. She was a loved and respected monarch.Queen Sälote’s children and grandchildren continue to maintain close links with New Zealand, especially with the Mäori monarchy, the Kïngitanga.

Te Papa has several treasured items and images associated with Queen Sälote in the Pacific Cultures Collections. They include a kie (fine mat) once owned by Queen Sälote, photographs featuring her by renowned photographer Brian Brake, and a ngatu launima some 23 metres long that was placed beneath her coffin when her body was flown back to Tonga from New Zealand in 1965.

In remembrance of Queen Sälote, we present a selection of images and artefacts below that you can click on to enlarge. We also offer a link to the blog site of Tongan/Samoan poet Maryanne Pale of the South Auckland Poets Collective. She has her own tribute to Queen Sälote and her poetry writing thats worth sharing.

 Maryanne Pale, South Auckland Poets Collective  Link:
http://maryannepale.com/2012/03/22/celebrating-world-poetry-day-in-remembrance-of-queen-salote-mafileo-pilolevu-tupou-iii/

Kie hingoa /ie ioga (fine mat) Tonga/Samoa. This kie was formerly in the possession of Queen Sälote. She gave it to the Kronfeld family in Auckland to cover the coffin of Minna Kronfeld whom she had known as a girl. It passed to Minna’s brother, Dr Moe Kronfeld, who gave it to Te Papa.

This is rare fragment of tapa commemorates the war effort of Queen Sälote and the Tongan people who raised money for the British to buy Spitfire airplanes during the Second World War (1939-1945). The aircraft depicted was the first of 3 Spitfires donated to the British war effort by the Queen and people of Tonga. A total of 15,000 pounds was raised in Tonga for this purpose, the aircraft depicted on the tapa was the result of the first payment of 5,000 pounds in April 1941.

Tonga, Royal Tour 1953 Brian Brake (photographer)

Tonga, Royal Tour (1953) Brian Brake (photographer). Queen Sälote is at the front of the vehicle.

Royal Tour , Tonga (1953) Brian Brake (photographer). Queen Sälote is on the right holding a fan.

This ngatu launima was associated with two queens. Made in 1953 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Tonga, it was later placed under Queen Salote’s coffin when her body was flown back from New Zealand in 1965. The tapa was given to the pilot of the plane Flight Lieutenant McAllister, and he in turn presented it to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa’s predecessor) in 1968. Click on the image to see the details.

 

[i] Wood-Ellen, E. (ed). Songs and Poems of Queen Salote. Vava’u Press, Tonga (2004).

By seanjmallon | Posted in Pacific | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, BA, DLitt, NZOM, 1925–2009

18 August 2009 – 2.06pm

Te Papa acknowledges the life and writing of poet, playwright, novelist, and memoirist Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. His work is noted for its attempts to reconcile the complexities and displacements he experienced as a result of his New Zealand/Cook Islands ancestry.

Campbell was born in the Cook Islands and spent his first seven years there. His Cook Island mother died of tuberculosis in 1932, and his New Zealand father succumbed to drink a year later, with the result that Campbell and his brother were sent to an orphanage in Dunedin.

Despite speaking little English, within a few years Campbell was top of his class. He also represented Otago in soccer. But he never felt he belonged and struggled at university. Moving to Wellington, he fell in with a group of poets, including James K Baxter, Peter Bland, and Louis Johnson (the ‘Wellington group’). His first poetry collection Mine Eyes Dazzle appeared in 1950.

After gaining a BA in English and Classics from Victoria University, Campbell began work for School Publications (now Learning Media), putting his literary talents to good use as editor of the School Journal.

He produced poetry, novels, and radio plays at regular intervals throughout his long career. Negotiating between Cook Island and European traditions remained an ongoing concern. His name ‘Te Ariki’ links back to the chiefly origins of his mother’s father in the Cook Islands. He identified with the Ngāti Toa tribe of the Kapiti Coast area, where he lived, but said in 1965, ‘I am of mixed race. The years of solitude get you down. You are different. You are without a tribe.’

Campbell married poet Fleur Adcock in 1952, and they had two children, before later divorcing. He then married Aline Margaret (Meg) Anderson (1937–2007), with whom he had a further three children.  

In 1997, Campbell was awarded a Pacific Islands Artist’s Award, and in 1999 he received an Honorary DLitt from Victoria University of Wellington. In 2005, he received a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement for his poetry, and that same year he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

He is survived by his five children and his writing.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in History | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)
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