Karyn Paringatai
Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori women poets in translation, edited by Maraea Rakuraku and Vana Manasiadis (Seraph Press, 2018), 40 pp., $20
He tātai whetū ki te rangi, tū tonu. He tātai whetū ki te whenua, ngaro noa.
The starry hosts of heaven abide there for ever. The hosts of humans on earth pass away into oblivion.
tātai whetū: 1. (noun) constellation, cluster of stars
The ‘stars’ of Tātai Whetū, a collection of seven poems by seven Māori women poets, take the reader on a wistful journey that traverses the boundaries of the spiritual and physical realms. The poets who composed these poems will inevitably pass on from this physical world – he tātai whetū ki te whenua, ngaro noa – but their words and thoughts are hung in the metaphysical space of the heavens above as guiding lights never to be extinguished – he tātai whetū ki te rangi, tū tonu.
A highly charged current of feminine strength underlies the poems in this collection. Māori history is rich with narratives featuring strong female figures who defy the odds and are a powerful force to be reckoned with: ‘I heard their karanga, the dawn voice, centuries of women rising up in a vocal wiri from the motu …’ Anahera Gildea reminds us that we are a continuation of those who have gone before us and our karanga will add to the resounding echoes of quivering voices that will be heard for generations to come.
The poems take us on contemplative journeys into the past, anticipating futures and urging personal change. Most are presented in a style akin to traditional Māori storytelling techniques, with the repetition of key phrases throughout to aid in the delivery of the main point of each verse. This allows the poem to be remembered long after the book has been closed. They all convincingly awaken the soul of the reader in multiple ways: we can identify with the situations the poems present on many levels. The poets sit at an intersection of experiences and give the reader a glimpse into what it is to be female and Māori. They are not insular expressions; they concern life, reason and hope – the shared human existence – so the reader is able to connect to events, situations or encounters that have happened in their own lives. As the character in Kiri Piahana-Wong’s poem says of her situation, ‘In the Aotea Centre, I am alone in a sea of white faces.’ This is the story of my life. The emotions recalled in many of these poems are just as raw, painful or enjoyable as if we were the characters ourselves.
‘The wood you’re trying to carve is still a tree.’ This is a poignant reminder for me, as someone whose passion is carving the tongues of others with the nuances of te reo Māori, to be gentle and coaxing rather than forcing te reo to appear. In order to assist with this goal of making te reo Māori more accessible to as many people as possible, the editors have had each of the poems translated into te reo Māori. This is no mean feat to achieve when some of the words used by the poets have no equivalent in te reo Māori. I applaud the translators on a marvellous job, and the editors for their foresight in having this work provided in both languages.
Additionally, as explained by one translator, in any work like this there exists ‘linguistic incommensurability, whereby no translation can ever do justice to the translated language and vice versa’. However, in this case the translations add a new dimension to the original poems. While staying true to the originals, the emotions they evoke within the reader are different. The poem in English is complementary to the poem in te reo Māori and vice versa, which is a truly unique aspect of this collection. I was completely bamboozled by Tru Paraha’s ‘Darknyss’, but when I read its counterpart, ‘Te Pōuri’, the confused darkness I was in faded and I was enlightened by the translation.
The reader has a choice: te reo Māori or English. But I encourage you to read both and allow your tongue to tease the Māori words to life: ‘… it began with the idea of you’.
He tātai whetū ki te rangi, he tātai whetū ki te whenua, tui, tui, tuia.
The starry hosts of heaven and earth forever intertwined.
Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori women poets in translation, edited by Maraea Rakuraku and Vana Manasiadis (Seraph Press, 2018), 40 pp., $20
He tātai whetū ki te rangi, tū tonu. He tātai whetū ki te whenua, ngaro noa.
tātai whetū: 1. (noun) constellation, cluster of stars
Ko ngā whetū o te pukapuka nei, Tātai whetū, he kohikohinga o ngā rotarota e whitu kua tuhia e ngā kaiwhakairo kupu wahine Māori tokowhitu. Ka kawea te kaipānui e ā rātou kupu i tētahi haerenga whēnakonako e whakawhiti ana i te ao wairua me te ao kikokiko nei. Tāria te wā, ka matemate haere ngā kaiwhakairo kupu nei – he tātai whetū ki te whenua, ngaro noa – engari ka whakairia ō rātou whakaaro, ā rātou kupu ki te rangi hei tohutohu i a tātou mō ake tonu – he tātai whetū ki te rangi, tū tonu.
He roma mana wahine e rere ana hei pūtaketanga o ia rotarota i tēnei kohikohinga. E hia kē nei ngā kōrero pūrākau a te Māori e whakanui ana i te mana o te wahine, i tō rātou kaha, i tō rātou ūpoko mārōtanga i tā rātou i kōkiri ai. ‘… I heard their karanga, the dawn voice, centuries of women rising up in a vocal wiri from the motu …’ Ka whakamaumaharatia tātou e Anahera Gildea, he uri whakaheke tātou nō rātou kua mene atu ki te pō. Ka āpitihia ā tātou karanga ki ā rātou karanga e whakapaorotia ai i ngā reanga e haere ake nei.
Ka kawea tātou e ia titonga i tētahi haerenga ki te ao kōhatu, ki te ao e heke mai e whai ai tātou i te pae tawhiti. Whakapapahia mai ai ngā kaupapa matua o te nuinga o ngā rotarota, anō nei he pakiwaitara ki te reo Māori ahakoa kua tuhia tuatahitia ki te reo Pākehā. Whakatakia mai ana ngā kupu ōrite kia maumahara ai te kaipānui i tā rātou i kīia ai mō te hemo noa. Noho ai ngā kaiwhakairo kupu i te pūtahitanga o wheako kia mōhio ai te kaipānui he aha tēnei mea te wahine, he aha tēnei mea te Māori. Ehara i te mea he wheako ēnei ō te kaiwhakairo kupu anake. He mea pā ki a tātou katoa. Nā te hononga o ngā wheako i whakamāramatia ai i ngā rotarota ki ō tātou ake wheako te wairua o te kaipānui i oho ake ai. He whakatinanatanga ngā wheako rotarota o ō te kaipānui ake wheako. E ai ki te kiripuaki o tā Kiri Piahana-Wong rotarota, ‘In the Aotea Centre, I am alone in a sea of white faces.’ Ko tōku ao tēnei. Ko au tēnei e noho nei i te whare wānanga Pākehā. Pupū ake ai ngā momo kare ā-roto katoa, mamae atu, pōuri atu, manahau atu.
‘The wood you’re trying to carve is still a tree.’ He whakatūpatotanga nui tēnei mōku ake nei. Ko tāku he whakairo i ngā arero o te hunga pīkoko ki te reo Māori. Me āta haere, me ngāwari te haere, me māhaki kei rāoa aku tauira ki te toto i mua iho i te otinga noa. Hei āwhina i te whāinga kia hōrapa te reo Māori ki ngā tōpito katoa o te ao, kua whakamāoritia ia rotarota. Āe mārika, ehara tēnei i te mahi ngāwari, nā runga anō i te mōhiotanga kāore he kupu i te reo Māori mō ētahi kupu i te reo Pākehā. Me mihi ka tika ki ngā kaiwhakamāori me ngā ētita mō tā rātou whai whakaarotanga kia noho tahi ai ngā reo e rua.
Waihoki, ki tā te whakamārama o tētahi o ngā kaiwhakamāori, i tēnei momo mahi kei reira te ‘linguistic incommensurability, whereby no translation can ever do justice to the translated language and vice versa’. Heoi, i tēnei pukapuka he wairua ōrite, he wairua rerekē tō ngā rotarota e rua. Ka whakatairangatia te titonga reo Pākehā i te titonga reo Māori, te titonga reo Māori i te titonga reo Pākehā hoki. He rerekē ngā kare ā-roto e pupū ake ai, engari, he ōrite hoki. Koinei te mea tino mīharo o tēnei pukapuka. Pōkaikaha katoa ana au i te titonga ‘Darknyss’, nā Tru Paraha, engari, i a au e pānui ana i ‘Te Pōuri’, i tere makere mai taua pōkaikahatanga. Kei roto i te pōuritanga te māramatanga e whiti mai ana!
Kei te kaipānui te whiriwhiringa: te reo Māori, te reo Pākehā. E rua, e rua. Heoi, ka āki au i a koutou ki te pānui i ngā mea e rua kia miria ai ngā kupu Māori e tō arero kia ora ai: ‘… it began with the idea of you’.
He tātai whetū ki te rangi, he tātai whetū ki te whenua, tui, tui, tuia.
KARYN PARINGATAI (Ngāti Porou) lectures in Te Tumu – School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago. Her research interests focuses primarily on Māori performing arts traditions and sociological aspects of Māori experience, including Māori urbanisation, Māori identity development and maintenance and the multiple dimensions of whakapapa. She is committed to drawing upon Māori knowledge traditions to transform teaching and learning in the university setting.
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