Mad emperors and Poetry

How not to go insane in insane times

Talofa friends

We all know we are living in strange and disquieting times. It’s hard not to be completely shaken by the crazed Roman emperors of the world and their daily insanities. It’s hard to keep some equanimity and feel some solid ground under our feet with the rumblings of bombs landing in Iran and the tumbling of bones in Gaza. Trump is declaring war on Iran, Netanyahu and his cronies are clapping their hands with glee and we all wonder what will this will mean. What it will mean for the world. What it will mean for us.

In Aotearoa, our own crazed-drunk-on-power little Roman emperor, David Seymour, is doing his own version of destruction here. We all hold our breaths waiting for the outcome of the public submissions against the Regulatory Standards Bill.

In the mean-time, Trump-style, Seymour is busy proclaiming himself as a victim of fake news. Mihinarangi Forbes ( Mihi at 34 mins, but if you have time to watch the whole Mata report on Seymour it’s chillingly fascinating) and John Campbell are crackpots and liars because they dare to ask Emperor Seymour questions. Seymour took his own film person to his interview with Campbell to interview the interview (thought I’d give you the ACT pov version in this link).

This is a weird new move for a Deputy PM. Even the notoriously media-paranoid Winston Peters hasn’t done that. But it seems Seymour is making good use of his interview footage to send out to ACT followers. Handily it’s also a great opportunity to wheedle more money from his voters - to help him make sure the ‘truth’ is told.

Space here for us all to punch a pillow or scream into the everlasting void…

Somehow in amongst all this, we need to to take heart. Not to turn away from the injustices and pretend they aren’t happening, but to have a rest from them sometimes. If I allow myself to be completely swallowed up by the depth and breadth of injustice, suffering and political evil and insanity I will drown. That’s why I write poems.

I’m quoting from another poet here:

The rage you are feeling 
comes from the same place 
inside your heart as the love.  

This is why you refuse to accept 
a world where cruelty reigns 
and the fire consumes all.  

You have known hope  
and joy and kindness 
like you have known water.  

And justice is a river
 that demands 
you do not give up on it.  

- Nikita Gill  

It’s true, love and rage against injustice are closely related. We need our rage against injustice, but we must find ways of expressing that rage, be it via poetry or going on a protest march or punching it out at the gym. But we also need a rest from the torrent of injustice lest we become exhausted and used up. We can’t work for justice in our own tiny sphere of influence if we are used up. Most of us have a small sphere of influence - our friends, work mates, kids, families. Most of us are not Greta Thunberg or Wizard Bisan. If we are used up - we lose hope.

Rage and hope and love are siblings and they all need space in our hearts. Drown one and the others die too.

Which brings me to my thank you. Thank you for subscribing, for giving me a platform to share my rage and hope and love via poetry (OK, mostly rage lol). Books take years to come out, and lets face it, there are about 12 people in NZ who buy poetry books. (Joking. But not joking.) This platform has given me a place to respond to what is happening in our country and in our world, without having to wait a few years for a book to come out. Or a show to be staged. Or whenever I can get a poem into a place like Spinoff. And of course, it helps me be a full time writer and pay the bills.

Thank you to all the people who donated to BoostedXMoana and Give a Little to help get me to the Medellin Poetry Festival. Thanks also to those of you who shared the campaigns. I honestly don’t have words to express how grateful I am. I am astonished again and again by the kindness and generosity of people.

In a few days I leave for Colombia to take part in this poetry festival. (See this link for essays from some of the poets taking part.) It’s an amazing festival in a country which has experienced 40 years of civil war. This 35th annual festival focuses on poetry as a force for social change.

“From July 5 to 12, with the presence of 60 poets from 45 countries… the motto: ‘Life will emerge liberated from iron’ ”.

There are a good number of poets coming from countries in the Middle East, I am offering up prayers to the gods of poetry and visas and aeroplanes and luck that they can all come safely.