Born Sacred
£13.46
Hopurangi—Songcatcher
£12.49
Three birds flew from me:
a sparrow from my chest
a tūī out my throat
a pīwaiwaka from my thigh
they flew to see my father
to let him know I am well
— from ‘Tamatea Kai-ariki: ‘Three birds flew from me’
After rejoining social media, Robert Sullivan wrote and posted a poem a day over two and a half months – the poems collected in Hopurangi—Songcatcher. Inspired by the cyclical energies of the Maramataka, these poems see the poet re-finding himself and his world – in the mātauranga of his kuia from the Ngāti Hau and Ngāti Kaharau hapū of Ngāpuhi; in his mother’s stories from his Ngāti Manu hapū at Kāretu; in the singing and storytelling at Puketeraki Marae, home of his father’s people of Kāti Huirapa, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha and Kāi Tahu Whānui in Te Tai o Āraiteuru; and in the fellowship of friends on Facebook.
Tīhei mauri ora!
Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu) is the author of nine books of poetry, most recently Hopurangi—Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka (Auckland University Press, 2024), as well as a graphic novel and an award-winning book of Māori legends for children. He has also co-edited anthologies of Māori and Polynesian poetry. He is associate professor of creative writing at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University and has taught previously at Manukau Institute of Technology and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
- ISBN-13
- 9781776711222
- Publisher
- Auckland University Press
- Imprint
- Auckland University Press
- Publication date
- 9 May 2024
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 144
- Dimensions
- 225 x 170 mm
- Language
- English
