What is the job of a Poet Laureate, and is it more complicated for those that “walk in and out of several worlds each day” as the United States’ Laureate of Native American descent Joy Harjo so eloquently puts it? Aotearoa’s first Pasifika Poet Laureate, Selina Tusitala Marsh, joins the current and second Pasifika writer to hold the tokotoko, David Eggleton, for a discussion on poetry and power, private and public writing, and his new collection The Wilder Years.

Ka tes ta garue ʻon famorit ne sap se fuḁg teʻis Poet Laureate ka te ka la noanoa seʻ se iris ne ʻmåürʻåk ʻe ta kḁinag måür tūtū his ʻe teʻ ne terḁniʻ – teʻis fäeag ʻon Joy Harjo, leʻet ʻe tör ʻon kakḁi mumuḁ ne Mereke ne pō tapeʻ ma ʻe fuḁg teʻis United States Laureate.
Leʻ Pasefiḁk mumuet ne pō ʻe fuḁg teʻis Poet Laureate ʻe Niu Sirḁgi Selina Tusitala Marsh, la teagʻesea ma leʻet ne teʻis sap se fuḁg ta ʻe ʻon ʻi heteʻ, ka täe ʻon ruḁ ne leʻet ʻe famör Pasefika ne sap se fuḁg teʻis, David Eggleton, la hḁifäegag ʻe rēko ʻamnåk teʻis “poetry and power”, fåʻ tē ne hünʻåk se ʻot mḁuri ne fåʻ ʻe rēko måür ofrḁu, ma la iofʻåk tapeʻ ma se ʻon garue foʻou teʻis The Wilder Years.

Many ancestral currents, past and present, carried Pasifika peoples from Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa to Aotearoa. Whilst each Pacific identity is unique, experiences of migration, colonialism, and courage are shared, and vividly expressed in a thriving performance scene. Pasifika playwrights Oscar Kightley and Victor Rodger are just two of the many whose work reflect the Pasifika migrant spirit and the relationships with Māori as tangata whenua. How are the multiple waka of Pasifika theatre navigating current global storms, and what does the future hold? They share their thoughts with Lana Lopesi.

O le tele o folauga i vaitaimi ua tuanai e oo mai i le asō, na folau mai ai tagata Pasifika mai le Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa seia taunuu mai i Aotearoa. E tofu lava atumotu o le Pasifika ma lona faasinomaga, ma e ui i le eseese o nei faasinomaga, o talaaga i femalagaiga, faiga faakolone, ma le loto toa o tagata Pasifika, ua mafai ona faasoa ma faamatala manino i se faaaliga maoa‘e ma matagofie. O tusitala i faaaliga faa- Pasifika, le susuga Oscar Kightley ma Victor Rodger o nisi o tomai mai le toatele o tusitala, ma o loo atagia i a la galuega le agaga o tagata folau mai le Pasifika ma le sootaga ma Māori o tagata o le laueleele. O faapefea i le tele o sā o le Pasifika ona faatautaia folauga i matagi malolosi i le taimi nei, ma o le ā se taunuuga o loo agai atu i ai i le lumanai? Na faasoa o la manatu ma Lana Lopesi.