Hone Tuwhare Poetry

Hone Tuwhare , a New Zealand Maori, writes informed poetry on cultural and social issues concerning his people. His personal grievances, and deep shame about the loss of his culture are expressed in his deeply moving poetry. Tuwhare uses powerful imagery to depict the cultural losses his people have suffered through European colonization. He writes about the loss of a way of life in “The Old Place” and about the loss of spirituality in “The Kumara god Smiles Fatly” and are both examples of poetry about the destruction caused by Urban Drift.

The urban drift has delivered a cruel blow for traditional Maori culture. The financial opportunities offered by “the golden city” leads people away from tradition and culture which is the poetic source for Tuwhare’s anguish, his deep remorse is vividly expressed in the fourth stanza when Tuwhare tells us metaphorically about t

Spirituality comes across in the poem as an overpowering force “…it’s sandpaper hands on my head on my head on my heart my naked body sanding my eyeballs” the influence of spirituality seems to engulf the persona as the sandpaper hands are affecting the all the vital body parts: his eyes “sanding my eye balls” meaning the spirituality has an influence on his perception of the world around him, his head meaning it has an influence on his thoughts and also an influence on the feeling and emotions that come from his heart. The influence of spirituality on the person’s life seemed to enrich it “ I may never reach out to touch again as gentle”. The persona has given up his spirituality and feels the harsh the reality of a life gone sour through the neglect “The time of harvest does not eclipse my regret.” This tone of remorse helps the reader feel the pain of losing faith.

he pain he feels regarding the colonization process: “ and in no protesting sense did iron and barbed wire ease to the rust’s invasion…” which implies

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