Wild Dog Under My Skirt

I think this poem reflects the respect of the Samoan culture and the independent, brave thoughts of the author. "I want him to bring out his chisel and hammer /and strike my thighs/ the  whole circumference of them/ like walking right around the world/ like paddling across the whole Pacific ocean/ in a log" The author wants the tattoo to be done, this is her sincere wish. I researched about the Samoan tattoo, I learnt that tattoo or Samoan people is an honour, it signals for energy and blessing. Tattoo is a big thing for Samoan people, before they go to the tufuga, they will need to search for their identity first, set up their mind, and then go to the tattoo. I can imagine the author is excited about getting her tattoo done, she compares the process of tattooing to "walking right round the world" "paddling across the whole pacific". Walking round the world and paddling across the ocean will both give a person great courage and a strong heart, this is what she thinks tattoo will give her, energy and blessing. This is also the traditional thinking in Samoa for tattoo. Also I know that tattoo is very painful, so normally it will take about 2 or 3 weeks to complete. Here she might also expresses the feeling that tattoo process is very painful , so she feels like time goes very slow as if travelling around the world.

I think there is also some feminism thoughts in this poem. "I want my legs as sharp as dog's teeth" "I want my lags like octopus" "I even want my legs like cetipedes". The author is a female, normally women want their legs looking cute and lovely, but here the author obviously does not want cute and lovely legs. The author also mentions at the beginning of the poem that she want black tattoos, not blue or green. So I think the author want her tattoo to be a symbol to prove that she is a strong person, she has the willingness to become a strong, capable woman, not just care about beauty like many other women. I totally agree with her, actually I think there are too many vain women in this world, they are the main reason woman and man are not equal. When some women are complaining about men do not respect them, I think they need to think about are they worth respect. Avia is obviously a woman see ability and success in life as very important, she wants to "bite strangers" "catch rats and eat them", to overcome difficulties in life with her courage.

Brief 2

Seminar presentation

Brown Brother is presented as a monologue in the style of a spoken word poem.

Joseph Iosefo wrote it out of his frustration at the lack of inspiration amongst Pacifika but he did not intend  to write it to inspire them.

It is also a social commentary on the way Pacifika are stereotyped.

He uses metaphor and characterization to describe these sterotypes.

The themes he talks about are based his personal experiences.

Brief 1

Kidnapped
Sapa'u Ruperake Petaia


Kidnaped by Sapa'u Ruperake Petaia is a satirical poem which explores the themes of loss of traditional Samoan knowledge, the effects of colonialism and Western influences on Samoan culture and society.

The poem uses the metaphor of being kidnapped to tell the story of a character  being forced into Western style education but ultimately submitting to it like they are suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

From the shelter of my culturally devoid bubble it gave me a perspective on the impact of colonialism on Pacific people and their culture.

Sons For The Return Home

Before I read this book, I always think about that as Chinese living in another country, I find it so hard to fit in. I go through all the conflicts and I know there are many Chinese here are like me, suffering all these pains. It is only from reading this book I understand that there are actually people from other cultures are also experiencing the pains about not fit in. The example would be this Samoan boy and his family, they cannot fit into the NZ society.

In this book, the love between the Samoan boy and the Kiwi girl is very pure, but their different culture background make the pure, easy, happy love become very complicated. When the boy takes the girl to the Samoan church, all the Samoan boys are looking at the girl. And when the boy gets invited to the Kiwi party, all the white people are looking at the boy. I can understand this sort of feeling about standing among people looks very different from you. Last year I studied physiotherapy, I am the only Chinese girl out of the whole 300 students, I felt quite bad because I look so different. Then there is the different customs, to the girl, the eagle is just a bird, but to the boy, the eagle represent ancient god. The boy throw out a temper after the girl killed the eagle. During the book, there are many such unhappy times happening between the boy and the girl, most of them are due to the culture difference. But they love each other deeply, so every time, they will forgive each other and back to their happiness again.

I admire the courage and the persistence of this pair of lovers. Actually I think instead of trying to fit into each other's society, they should just use the time to love each other more, and time will resolve all the barriers. My step father is a kiwi, I don't fit into the NZ culture, but I do love my step father because he provides me so much care and kindness. I used to try to understand his world, but I realise that sometimes when he talks about NZ history, I do not want to listen because I really think it has nothing to do with me. The same, when I talk about more about China, he would seem confused and no interest. I think love is an international theme, which let us find a way through this very complicated world.

Brief two seminar presentation (The daffodils – from a native’s perspective)

Sia Figiel was born in 1967 in Western Samoa. She was the raised in several of its villages, which are the roots of her literary work. As a teenage she came to New Zealand to finish her schooling and has since been acknowledged as Samoa's first contemporary woman writer.

As a Samoan poet and novelist Sia is well known for her performance poetry, and she is a frequent guest at literary festivals. She has written three novels, a book of poetry and a performance poetry CD.

In 1997 Sia's first book, Where We Once Belonged won the Best First Book Award of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. The Pacifica Press then suggested that Where We Once Belonged "attempts to structurally represent one of its central themes which is the dominance of the community identity and the continuity over the identity and growth of the individual."

This less 'traditional' narrative structure is something we have identified with a lot of Sia's work, which has been translated into more than eight languages, including German, French, Dutch and Portuguese.

Sia is currently living in Utah, where she is a language and culture consultant to MANA Academy, which opened in September of this year; however her writer's residences include The University of Hawaii, The University of Technology, Sydney and The University of the South Pacific, among several others.

Sia's poetry speaks of her indigenous origins. The speaker describes hearing about Wordsworth's poem in "form three literature class", where 'she' whom we can only assume is the speakers teacher "made us memorise you" referring to Wordsworth. Although Sia's biography states that she finished her schooling here in New Zealand, within the poem she makes reference to physically staring at "the auke bush next to the mango tree". A line we would unlikely associate being spoken in reference to New Zealand. It's more than evident that Sia's poetry springs from her deep love for her homeland, its culture, its beliefs and its values.

Context

"Apologies Mr
Wordsworth
But I too wandered
Lonely as a cloud"

William Wordsworth begins his 1807 poem Daffodils with the line "I wandered lonely as a could". Within his poem Wordsworth describes himself as a "cloud" that floats over hills, presenting the idea of seclusion. As human form Wordsworth prefers seclusion but the "crowd" of daffodils bewilders his senses. Similar to Wordsworth, Sia Figiel begins her poem with the line "Apologies Mr Wordsworth but I too wandered lonely as a cloud". Like Wordsworth Figiel has chosen to use the word "wandered" as opposed to just "walked around". In its metaphorical use, the term "wandered" symbolises the feeling of purposeless and directionless in general. When the speaker mentions that she "wandered lonely as a cloud" it feels like she is projecting her loneliness onto the clouds. When we think of the clouds, we think of them as being lofty and airy and far above the rest of the world. It seems as though initially the speakers thoughts are this way too.

"Because they
Too
Put a smile
On my face
Whenever
I lie
On my mat
Oft
In pensive mood"

Within the poem the speaker conveys the memory of beautiful things (daffodils) as a comfort after the experience of viewing them has ended. Viewing them in a metaphorical sense because the speaker can only draw on her imagination to reproduce the joy of the event and to remember what she was feeling at the time. Figiel has the reader believing that the pleasure of seeing the daffodils with her "inner eye" is of the same quality and intensity, or better than the real, momentary perception of them, and because of this her initial loneliness is replaced by joy.

Seminar brief 2 (Kinapped by Ruperake Pataia and A book and a pen by Vaine Rasmussen)

We have chosen these two poems for my seminar because I see quite a few of similarities between them, especially in the way authors express their feelings about the Western education that they received when they were young, which changed the way they see the world as well as identified themselves. Even though Ruperake and Vaine came from two different countries (one from Samoa and one from the Cook Islands), the two nations both experienced the Western colonialism and somehow they lost a part of their original cultures and the two authors realized how much they have missed about their own cultures, about what they should have learnt about when they were young. 

In “A book and a pen”, Vaine told the readers his story as he was given “a book and a pen” when he was young and then later on he was given “a piece of paper” and then “another piece of paper”. Interestingly, in “Kidnapped”, Rupetake also called his certificate “a piece of paper/to decorate my walls”. We can see a sense of guilt here as the two authors realize that while they were at the Western educational institutions to learn the Western culture and to get the Western certificates, they were also gradually missing learning their own cultures “..and I grew up at last/ Realising I had missed a lot”. These two men find themselves caught in the middle as they grew up with the Western language, education and culture surrounding them but deep inside, they still try to find the way to come back to their own origins. They know that they have missed a lot, “a pe’e/A legend, a song/ And a language to master”. 

In my seminar, I’m doing the part of “text-to-self”, in which I’ll be presenting my point of view about the two poems and how I relate to the texts. Coming from a country which used to be colonised by French, I have learnt quite a lot about the French colonialism in the history classes when I was at school and I also listened to stories told by old people, who actually experienced their adolescent years under the strong influences of French language and culture. Similar to Ruperake, they also “grew whiter and whiter” as they spoke French, adopted the French way of thinking, went to au theatre (the theatre), etc. but at the same time, Vietnamese culture, language, cuisine, traditional arts become less concerned. Luckily, I was born in the time that my country have gained its own independence and I was brought up in the environment that people only spoke Vietnamese, which made me really proud because I could confidently say that my Vietnamese is excellent. To me, the certificates I have from any Western institutions are not pieces of paper to decorate my walls but they’re the proofs that I’ve been experiencing another educational system, exploring other cultures and it truly opens my world and changes my perspectives. It gives me the opportunities to see myself and to look back to my own culture and see it with a different view. It’s absolutely an amazing thing!

Analysis of chosen seminar narrative (The daffodils - from a native's perspective)

Sia Figiel’s poem The daffodils – from a native’s perspective is essentially a response to William Wordsworth’s 1807 poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” also more commonly known as “Daffodils”. Figiel has chosen to incorporate aspects of Wordsworth’s original poem such as

“But I too wandered

Lonely as

A cloud”

“That floats on high

O’er vales

And hills”

“On your host of golden daffodils beside the lake beneath

The trees fluttering and dancing”

By blending aspects of this ‘old English’ with colloquial language I believe that Figiel is making a contrast between Wordsworth’s world and her world. It’s a world in which Figiel herself can escape into but in a way she seems slightly dubious about this unfamiliar or foreign world. She cannot relate to aspects of it and I think she refers to this and talks a little bit about it within the text, about not really knowing anything about it but through Wordsworth’s writing being able to experience it.

“The one thing

I didn’t have to

Share

Not knowing what

Was fluttering

What

Was dancing

But

Never mind

Whatever they must have been

They must have

Been magical

Enchanting even

Because they

Too

Put a smile

On my face”

We know that Sia Figiel is a writer and that she can escape into this world of writing. She talks about her education and it being so different from her place, from Samoa but at the same time it gives her this escape even though it has not connection her place and it is outside of her cultural boundaries. It expresses a contradiction, a love for the literature and a love for terrible soaps like days of our lives, but at the same time it’s not indigenous to her or to Samoa. She goes into this world of literature and she highlights that it’s sort of foreign to her but then of course she’s brought back to reality.

“Do

You

Know

What

I

Mean

Mr

Words

Worth?

Do

You

Know

What

I

Mean?”

To me by asking Mr Wordsworth these questions it’s almost as though Figiel is trying to communicate back across that void. Mr Wordsworth you have communicated to me, I have connected to your poem about daffodils but all of this other stuff is going on as well so do you get me? She doesn’t understand what it’s like to have daffodils so we can identify that one way relationship between to the coloniser and the colonised.