Student poets break out of lockdown

We all know that lockdown improved creativity for many people – being away from the madding crowd, in a much quieter world, seems to have been the spark.

But even Dr Nina Nola, co-ordinator of English for the Tertiary Foundation Certificate (TFC), was blown away by the submissions for a poetry competition she devised, called ‘Lockdown Breakout’. The year-long TFC programme aims to allow students to gain university entrance or upskill in sciences.

“As part of a unit on poetic text, students in the TFC course participated in a competition, drawing on their Covid-19 lockdown experiences,” says Nina. “The results were astounding. We received 27 poems which really moved not just the tutors but also the judges.

“This competition was a chance for students to engage with course material in a personally meaningful – and sometimes cathartic – way,” says Nina.

“The quality of entries was so high that the judges awarded three first prizes and two equal runners-up. The poems are dynamite.”

The judges were Dr Tru Paraha, Māori post-doctoral fellow in English and Drama and poet Professor Michele Leggott.

Michele says the top three – by Sia Siafa, Indiarose Thomas and Xara Pickering – are all very different.

She says Sia's poem pulled right into the world of lockdown through concrete details and questions, such as what to do about those roots and how to apply nail polish by ring light.

"It's a sustained investigation of what the world felt like and a careful walking back to what really matters. All the big questions are swirling around without answers, troubling and necessary to onward steps."

Michele says fellow first-place-getter Xara made good use of stretched words and percussive repeats.

"It's a great first-person lizard voice stretched out in the first rays of post-lockdown sun hitting our third rock. The lizard wakes! Blood warms. The planet continues its voyage around the sun in this year of strangenesses."

“And then Cravings by Indiarose dug deeply into the intimate territory of mammals shut up together in confined spaces, getting closer and closer to an earth mother, whose presence might be a comfort.”

Indiarose says she has written poetry before but "never with the intention of actually writing a poem".

“I love referring to the animalistic side of humans and how tightly intertwined we are with nature. I think the closer we are to nature and the planet, the more we fulfil our purpose and destiny as human beings on Earth.

“I tend to wait until my emotions build up to bubbling point and then the words pour out of me onto paper or, more commonly, into the notes on my phone. It’s probably not the healthiest process but I do believe that humans create the most beautiful things when we are at our most damaged or emotionally vulnerable.”

Sia says she wasn’t even sure she was capable of poetry before she started. “Poetry is so abstract and subjective. You wonder, what is good and bad poetry? Is there even a pass/fail metric in poetry?”

Sia says in truth she didn’t really realise it was a competition when she submitted the poem. “Did I think it was compulsory and part of the curriculum because I didn't read the prompts properly? Oh for sure!”

She says she wants her poem to be read three ways. “First, like a newspaper; second, like a Twitter feed on your phone, with the random shift in tone as you read through; and lastly, like a script, the stage direction being the last line of a narration.”

Xara says she has always enjoyed poetry and creative writing “so it is definitely something I thought I was capable of. And it was a lot of fun to create this.”

Returning to study
All three are enjoying the TFC programme despite the unusual situation created by Covid-19 moving all teaching to online.

Indiarose is hoping to do a Bachelor of Global Studies and Law and decided to do the certificate first.

“I realised I need to take action towards making positive and necessary change in the world instead of just talking about it,” she says. “I decided to study in New Zealand because I really respect the mentality of people here and our Māori past and present. I’ve spent the past 13 years in Australia and other places around the world, so this has been a form of reconciliation with New Zealand and that’s very important to me as well.”

Sia wanted a change after working the past ten years in manufacturing, entertainment and banking. “Rewarding jobs, but that's all they were – jobs," she says.  She’s hoping to do an LLB.

“There was definitely a teething period in the initial weeks of study, but you get into a groove. You have to want to be here. It's part of a mindset, but I think sociology lecturer Moeata Keil summed it up best in a tutorial, when we were talking about mature-age students.

“She described how hungry they are, how involved they get in the curriculum and how much they apply content to their own experiences for better comprehension. She talked about the whakama about coming back to tertiary education - not even that, but a foundation course – when your peers are well into their careers. It was like she had read my innermost anxious thoughts.”

Sia says it helps that everyone is so supportive. “All of my lecturers this past semester are women. Three were Pasifika; how could I not be personally motivated?”

Xara had been out of school for a few years when she made the decision to return to study.

“I thought I was ready to come back to study, but I felt like I needed to do something that could bridge the gap considering I’d not been in an academic atmosphere for so long, so I chose the TFC.”

She’s hoping ultimately to train in speech therapy and says the TFC teachers have been very supportive.

“It’s been a little bit harder with lockdown but it’s still really engaging and I appreciate everything that the TFC team are doing to make sure we stay engaged and enjoy it.”  

THREE WINNERS

Cravings

Take me into your arms.
Squeeze me, my bark furls and scratches, muscles growl.
Arch in my back.
A smooth valley, concave.
Water trickles, glistening nectar.
It feeds the streams, the lust, warmth.
Hand on my chest, fragile ribs, a warm beating mess.
It thumps, moans, groans, it longs.
Grab my hair, roots of grass, rip it.
They run deep. They always grow back.
The closest thing to our mother,
is dirt between our fingernails and a hole closer to the core.
Open me up,
I want to be buried inside.
Let the Earth swallow my soul,
in the gentle embrace only a mother knows.
– Indiarose Thomas

Living With – Out

I am a lizard stretching out
Sighing with relief upon my third rock from the sun
My blood has been cold
S t a g n a n t
Beginning to
C u r d l e
For so, so, so, so, so, so –
Too long
Did I mention that I’m stretched out?
R e a c h i n g
For the things that I want to hold close
Letting Bones –
Body –
Being –
Breathe back to life
After the aches and pains of staying inside
Being set free
There’s only my satisfaction left to find
Sighing with relief upon my third rock from the sun
I can finally reach the people that I have been trying to live
With – Out
– Xara Pickering

Seriously, where is she tho?

All this time,
You lost some weight, You glowed up, You baked some bread – WITH WHAT FLOUR?
Is there a cure yet? All that money,
You get help, You get help, You get 5 bucks, you’re welcome
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
You get restructured – it’s what the PR team told me to say
I pay taxes and am struggling, Aw that’s cute
Is there a cure yet? All that science,
You still need your roots done, You don’t know how to apply nail polish
Buy a ring light
“Tik tok when I dance, on that demon time she might start an OnlyFans” AYYY!
I am a free, I am not man, A number
Yes, that is racist… YOU
KNOW WHY
Bleach is for cleaning up murder scenes, but sis, did you really need 40 volume?
Seriously, you went to science school, where is that cure?
Drive thru, but for parking
Level 2, was at level 3 Stay home, but down the road
You have ears, for decoration
People died, but it wasn’t that, MSM will have you thinking
Transparency documents requested, were not transparent enou... “Shut up, Tova”
Sorry, how many people died?
Is there a cure? Is there, one?
What’s her address? I
just wanna talk…
                                   Ok, well I think I’ll charge my phone now
– Sia Siafa

TWO RUNNERS UP

Quo propius oculus

Perspective.
Our lapidary flaw
Eyes perfectly absorbed
Fault and facet obscure
Beauty beyond orb
Perspective.
– Angus Cameron

Read each line of the next poem from the bottom up.

The Bubble

Covid-19 is a blessing.
Nobody can tell me that
It was not.
Honestly,
The lockdown was good?
Some may say,
Life’s becoming more dangerous
As we lay writhing in pain,
Uttering prayers to God
While constantly hit by digits.
I am frightened.
But being in my own “bubble”,
Being constantly with my family.
I am safe,
Nobody can convince me that
I am not right where I need to be.
I will be loving these times.
I don’t see how
Covid-19 is a curse.
– Michelle Lim