Peaces certainly uneasy, Max, then and now. We live in an era of brisk slaughter. Like Pat, I should read up on
Te Raupahara. Your three part structure interesting.
Bill
On Thu, Nov 21st, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Yes. I liked 'slaughtering brisker' especially.
>
> Doug
> On Nov 20, 2013, at 2:36 AM, Patrick McManus
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Thanks Max -what a history -must read more about Te Rauparaha -
> > the Maori Napoleon
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On
> > Behalf Of Max Richards
> > Sent: 20 November 2013 05:31
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: 'Wars and Peace'
> >
> > Wars and Peace
> >
> > 1. Mural by Withers at Purrumbete
> >
> > Proud of their new heritage,
> > the Manifolds had in from
> > Melbourne its best muralist
> >
> > who at their behest
> > painted on the hall wall
> > how the Blacks watched
> >
> > while they landed sheep,
> > discovered grazing land
> > and good water,
> >
> > made it their own,
> > yet those Blacks came back -
> > on the attack
> >
> > until repulsed -
> > stealing water and sheep.
> > Peace was restored.
> >
> >
> > 2. Onawe
> >
> > Driving over exhilarating hills
> > where a few sheep steeply grazed,
> >
> > I pointed below to
> > the small green peninsula
> >
> > settled on the waters
> > of Akaroa Harbour.
> >
> > So so peaceful, she sighed.
> > Yes - now, I replied,
> >
> > but I remember being told
> > of Maori warfare -
> >
> > eighteen thirties, was it?
> > when muskets made for
> >
> > slaughtering brisker
> > than with taiaha and patu -
> >
> > Onawe's defenders killed
> > or enslaved by bold
> >
> > canoe-borne invaders -
> > led by Te Rauparaha -
> >
> > the Maori Napoleon.
> > What was once fortified -
> >
> > is now green turf. Peace -
> > yes, now (she sighed).
> >
> >
> > 3. 'The Last of the Unjust' [Terezin, Nisko]
> >
> > The camera for this slow
> > movie lingered on verdure,
> >
> > venerable trees,
> > unspoiled old villages,
> >
> > tilled earth and vegetables,
> > weathered stone walls,
> >
> > while the commentary dwelled
> >
> > on the long death march under
> > the trees, guards trigger-happy;
> >
> > starvation, typhus,
> > where the scaffold was,
> >
> > where the firing squad -
> > near the potato patch.
> >
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962
> Recording Dates
> (Rubicon Press)
>
> Art is always the replacing of indifference by attention.
>
> Guy Davenport
>
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