Poukahangatus

by Tayi Tibble

'Moving and hopeful ... will stay with me for a long time' Daisy Buchanan'A fearless, young new voice' Carol Ann Duffy'One of the most exciting debuts I've read in ages' Kaveh Akbar'One of the most startling and original poets of her generation' Joy HarjoThe voice of Tayi Tibble is one of most exciting in poetry today. In Poukahangatus (pronounced 'Pocahontas'), her debut volume, Tibble challenges a dazzling array of mythologies - Greek, Maori, feminist, kiwi - peeling them apart and respinning them in modern terms. Her poems move from rhythmic discussions of the Kardashians, sugar daddies and Twilight to exquisite renderings of precise emotions and the natural world alike. Tibble is also a master narrator of teenage womanhood, its exhilarating highs and devastating lows; her high-camp aesthetics chart the overflowing beauty, irony and ruination of her surroundings.Poem by poem, Tibble carves out a bold new way of engaging history without merely telling it, of straddling modernity and ancestry, desire and exploitation. These are warm, provocative and profoundly original poems, written from a world in which the effects of colonization, land, work and gender are intimately and insidiously connected. Along the way, Tibble scrutinizes perception and asks how she as a Maori woman fits into trends, stereotypes and popular culture. With language that is at once colourful, passionate and laugh-out-loud funny, Poukahangatus announces the presence of a surpassingly daring new poet.

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous, Feminism, Nonfiction, Mythology, Adult, Audiobook

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2022

About the author

Tayi Tibble (Te Whānau ā Apanui/Ngāti Porou) is an indigenous writer and poet based in Te Whanganui a Tara, Aoteraroa. She was born in 1995. In 2017, she completed a Master's in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, where she was the recipient of the Adam Foundation Prize. She works in publicity at Te Herenga Waka University Press.

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

Poetry (& how a person responds to it) is a very personal thing.

There just might be too much of a generation gap between myself & Ms Tibble for me to really understand/enjoy this collection.

I can appreciate the rich use of language & provocative nature of many of these poems. Some of the descriptions were indeed wonderful.

But Vampires versus Werewolves was just tedious and there were too many prose fragments. Some, but not all of them were poetry differently presented in a different way, but I'm not a fan of fragments. Just padding.

This cover designed by Xoë Hall was just gorgeous & was what made this slim volume jump from the library shelf into my hand.

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional collection, and Tayi Tibble’s reputation as NZ’s most exciting young poet is one she has earned. At its heart, this collection is about colonisation, in all its forms- on its grand historical scale, between generations and genders, through culture, and behaviour and art. Tibble’s poems are diverse in setting and character, but her tone is always pitch perfect and her words cut like a knife. This is required reading for NZers.

[Ann-Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poems is a lot. It is very atmospheric, it feels intimate and it makes you feel. I particularly liked all of the allusions to greek mythology and to modern or fairly recent cultural concepts.

Now, I won’t talk a lot about the structure and form and all that, but I will say that the second part of the book is stronger that the introductory one, imho. The whole collection progresses really well in terms of storytelling though. What I also want to mention is the topics that have been brought up: indigenous peoples’ lives, sex and sexuality, prejudices, oh and probably my favorite one - Maori culture and depiction of New Zealand in general!


My only criticism is that a few of the poems are a little disjointed and distracting, but I do see the potential of Tayi Tibble becoming one of the best poetry authors out there, and I will most likely pick up another collection of hers.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"all anyone ever does around here is / grow weed and stare / into burnt- out houses / into the rabbit hole / into the cards / into the skin / and roll their cars / their eyes / their r’s / their cigarettes / and kick snow / kick rugby balls / kick each other / kick bad habits / only to find another / like an eel / in the creek / in the backyard / in the dark / in winter / and try to kill it on the rocks / chase the girls / in a shed / a bathtub / a bed / with wet fingers / eyes / tongues / and T-shirts / from spilled beer / spilled cum / spilled blood / spilled secrets / bad boys / with bad skin / bad tattoos / and bad reputations / because here / all anyone ever does is / swear / across their hearts / at referees / at other drivers / taking to the road / cos all anyone ever wants around here is / out / of home / of the closet / of the relationship / of the sixth-storey window / open it / to the cold / to the clouds / to the sky / cos all anyone ever does around here is / dive /"

In all honesty, it was the gorgeous cover that first piqued my interest concerning this anthology. The synopsis heightened my interest and the wonders immediately found instead convinced me that I had made the correct choice in picking this up. Look at the power, the rawness, the perfect placement of words featured in the snippet above and tell me I was not wrong?

Throughout this anthology, Tibble explores her identity as a twenty-first-century Indigenous woman and I appreciated the insight to their culture just as much as the rich language used to evoke it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Tayi Tibble, and the publisher, Knopf Publishing Group, for this opportunity.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoki Mai (ANZAC day poem)

"She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. Like last night, on the riverbank, between the moss and the baby’s-breath, where he had kissed her sticky until she cried out from her chest. And she was thinking about the rolls of white fabric her sister kept in the shed and how she would make a dress pressed with shiny bits of shell. She could even fix a veil from the weave of a fishing net or wear knots of pale hydrangeas like a crown upon her head. Then together they would move to the empty plot of ancestral land forgotten by the sea and have little brown babies that she would make sure to stuff fat with potatoes and wobbly mutton. And her children would slurp kina in the summer. Collect driftwood for the fires on their way home from school. And their father would take up a good job in Gisborne. Return home, with sacks of boiled sweets and powdery jam-filled treats, and maybe, on special occasions, a European perfume or powder that she would keep but never use. And already she could smell the florals and the meat. Feel them turning inside her. Sensations so visceral that she cried out from her chest but when the sun lit the day and the train started pulling away, with every salute, march and funeral wave farewell she felt the world changing. The lump in her throat swelled like the seas that threatened to take him from her, and she had to swallow hard. But she promised that every day she would be the first to check the mail and that was the only vow she took."

[Lizzie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

** Thank you to NetGalley, Tayi Tibble, and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC **

Poukahangatus is Taya Tibble's debut book of poetry, written while she was completing her MA at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her debut book won several awards in New Zealand. First published in 2018 through Victoria University Press, this edition will be out in July of 2022.

I enjoyed this collection of poetry a lot! While I technically read this on May 1st, I requested it from NetGalley in honor of National Poetry Month. The cover was gorgeous and I loved the concept of a poetry collection written by a young indigenous woman from New Zealand. I know very little about Māori culture and really enjoyed this very modern look into the thoughts of a young woman. Her writing was cutting, insightful, funny, and beautiful. I will be doing my best to read her most recent collection of poetry as well!

[Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sealey Challenge 2024: 26/31

I re-read this one for the Sealey Challenge because when I read it back in January I think I wasn't in the right headspace to fully absorb these poems. While reading, I was shocked how few of the poems I remembered, therefore, on this re-read I took my time with these poems. There were some poems I needed to read a few times, others where I needed to look up translations, or specific aspects of Māori culture. Now, having finished my re-read I think I have a better understanding of this collection and appreciation for its experimentations with form and stylistic choices. These poems are a blend of family lore, Māori culture, hyper-sexualization of women's bodies, and pop cultural motifs. I found some poems more impactful than others, yet throughout these poems Tibble has a sharp wit that bleeds through even the most serious of poems. This has definitely reminded me that I need to read her newest collection (which was actually published out of order before her first one in the US) because although this collection had some flaws, there's so much talent here!

[Liz • りず · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The grass is sacred, it is still watered by old blood. That was enough. They didn’t ask again but they were desperate to know, whose blood?"
🌊🌺🐍
Tayi Tibble, a Maori woman from New Zealand, debuts with her collection of poetry Poūkahangatus. Tibble's poetry is inspired by her experiences as an indigenous woman exploring her identity in a society marked by racism, poverty, and a lack of authentic representation. Her poetry explore a wide range of subjects, including hair, love, family, death, and identity.
Tibble does not censor herself, using raw, emotional language that poignantly highlights womanhood's intoxicating highs and calamitous lows. 
She recounts the beautiful, the terrible, and the ugly in her quest to overcome the scars of colonialism and truly embrace her heritage. 
There were some fascinating turns of phrase as well as intriguing metaphors, but this poetry anthology was just not for me.
I wholeheartedly agree with Tibble's assertion: "Representation is important."
Poūkahangatus is remarkable for its youthful energy, empowering eroticism, and unabashed acceptance of contradiction. "We crave otherness. / We hate otherness."
Tibble isn't afraid to challenge conventional understandings of human identity, nor does she shy away from the harsh realities of poverty, racism, and misogyny.
Poūkahangatus is wildly original, and though it didn't resonate with me as strongly as I expected, it is undoubtedly an important, worthy collection.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the atmosphere is everything. love. a poet to watch out for!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is that Jessica? Giving 5 stars to a poetry collection?? The girl who normally avoids poems like they're the plague???

Well, yes! I have never been a poetry girl - not even slightly, not ever - which has been really tough as an English major! I usually find poems very inaccessible in that if you miss one small detail, or are missing knowledge of the context or the author, you might well miss the whole point. Prose is always so much more forgiving.

That is not the experience I've had here. No, for the first time ever, I actually GET IT. And right away, too. This is possibly the only time I have ever found love for an (established/traditionally published) poetry piece without a friend or a lecturer explaining it in detail to me first. Maybe that means I'm just a very 'dumb' poetry reader most of the time - and I'm willing to accept this - but it also speaks to how powerful Tayi Tibble's work is here.

Tibble is witty, humorous, devastating, confident, and vulnerable, all at once. I am in awe. Her discussions surrounding intersectional identities are confronting yet beautiful. Her articulation of Māori histories and colonisation's legacies are masterful. I really cannot say anything other than, again, I am in AWE.

I'm very excited to get started on Tayi Tibble's next collection!

[Georgie · Rating 4 out of 5]

'how many Māori girls
ended up on their knees
in order to erect
this modern nation

she sighs
and rolls her eyes
like a tiny haka

as she pulls the last
remaining peg embedded
in the mud with the last
of her mana'


I really relished diving into Tayi's perspective of being a young wahine Māori, she touches on themes of sexuality, 21st century, history- colonialism, tikanga, shame, mana & honesty.


I love loved 'Vampires versus Werewolves'
'What was it like to grow up during the Twilight season?'


'Like a muse. Used. Crumpled like
a chippie packet. She eats the entire bag
and laughs. Forgets her sentences. Remembers
how it feels to have her body strummed
by wind coming in from the ocean. The way
the taste of wild mint is like an echo
in her mouth. How hunger feels like hellfires
and hope feels like walking up a dead riverbed
searching for a trickle.'

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of this is extraordinary - a lot of it is not for me, I'm too old more than it's 'too young'; the talent is undeniable, but. And there's at least three poems here that knocked me down with their power. That's more than many ever manage in a lifetime.

[Renée Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love being Māori especially when this is the kind of contemporary writing being produced by us. It’s cool, it’s fun, it’s steeped in sacred history and modern identity.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, for the advance reading copy.

More of a too passionate in the writing about being born a woman who is experiencing the world's unrealistic expectations and presumptions on women, the content is a mix of short paragraphs and insta poetry. I love the paragraphs more and I do feel the author shines in this area. I couldn't make out much from the poetry parts. But I can feel the angst and the humour from both.

A good debut I would say.

If you love reading poetry by Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace, you can go for this collection.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Ur just so classically handsome! Like... a red American Mustang & I’m your tiny dashboard dancer... keeping your eyes off the road...”

I loved that this was a varied collection, but still had one running narrative. All of Tibble’s desicions, from structural choices to word choice and on, felt purposeful and effective.
It was personal but in some ways kept the reader at arms length. Telling us about her life out of order so that we have to put some of the pieces together ourselves. Telling us about her life in order to make points on her themes. But again, not in a way that felt forced or that she was squashing her experiences in to a box -- the themes seemed to spring naturally, but definitely loudly.
A great end to a year of reading!

[royaevereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y’all know I’m not much of a poetry reader, and I’d never found a collection that really spoke to me... until now. I think it’s a combination of being able to relate to the author (a kiwi woman of similar age to me) plus her immense talent as a poet. I loved the variety, both in content and in style. There were some that felt really witty but meaningful at the same time (one about Twilight, for example) and others that were emotionally striking in that you think you’re reading about one thing but it turns out to be something else entirely. As is typical with a poetry collection there were a couple of poems that didn’t blow me away but, amazingly, most of them did.

[Melz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt a sort of kinship with this collection of poems, concerning the internal dialogue of the protagonist and the organised mess of their thoughts.
It can be uncomfortable to read if you’re not prepared for the brutal and graphic honesty Tibble shares. It’s raw and it’s chaotic, and that’s why I think I appreciated it so much.


If you care about the intergenerational trauma of Tangata Whenua, read this, if you want a glimpse of the true treachery of colonisation, read this, if you want to read something written by someone who is not afraid to be unapologetic, you should read this.

Read it but beware 👻

Favourite quote: “Zoe Kravitz meets indigenous demigoddess”
💀goodbye 😋✌🏾🪦💀🔮

[mads]

I never know how to review poetry collections because poetry is such a deeply personal, subjective art (I don't rate it for the same reason).

Reading this, you could tell how much every single word meant to the author. The topics ranged from romance to identity to pop culture, but the heart of this collection was in every single one.

Overall, I'm glad I decided to pick this up.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed getting a glimpse into Tibble’s world and being exposed to indigenous life in New Zealand through her poetry.

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
-----
This has one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen!! I immediately bought this collection once I came across it. It's an evocative blend of poems and short essays that's incredibly intimate. However, while Tibble's prose is well-crafted, and her creative ideas are plentiful, nothing particularly affected me. Then again, I struggle with connecting with poetry in general, so Tibble isn't much at fault for that.

[literaryelise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection!

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most poetry and personal essay collections, this book had both hits and misses for me. Poukahangatus covers a range of themes such as history, race, culture, adolescence and womanhood. I really enjoyed the ones about pop culture, with the author's analysis about Twilight being my favourite. Overall, it's a great collection even though most of it isn't really to my tastes.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing Group and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like text in verse just for the fun of it. A good junk of this collection felt like that. I really liked two poems though, so not a complete miss for me

[「⋆⁺₊ ✦L U X I ✦₊⁺⋆ 」 · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had read this beforevoting I would have voted for this one!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the cover of this poetry collection and was excited to read a new to me Indigenous author from New Zealand. Overall the poems were well done but despite my best efforts I couldn't connect with most of them. I did appreciate the author's range. The style of poems was quite varied and I enjoyed that. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Sophie (RedheadReading) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stylistically not really my jam, I struggle with modern poetry that doesn't have much of a rhythm to it and a lot of the forms in this just felt like prose with line breaks or strokes between. Definitely appreciate the topics she's tackling and I think there is worth to this collection that a lot of people clearly connect with.

[chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

it must be difficult not to sprout a
head of snakes in a society that constantly hisses at you.
-- "Poukahangatus"

[Joanne Fate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m rating this 4 stars, but it comes close to deserving more. I read this as part of my challenge that includes books by Indigenous Peoples. I was going to use it for poetry, but there is a significant portion that is prose. Tayi Tibble is Maori from New Zealand. The name of the book looks confusing but is pronounced Pocahontas, surely meant to be provocative.

Tibble does sometimes write provocatively as she shares experience of living in the modern world as a Maori. I was drawn to the clash of cultures, which she writes well. She is a voice for representation, and I’m pleased that I found this book. I see that she has another collection, so I will put that on my future TBR.

[Amber Bourassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a hard time picking a rating for poetry collections because each poem hits me so differently.

The two standouts for me were Our Nan Let's Us Smoke Inside and Long White Clouds

cos all anyone ever wants around here is /out/of home/of the closet/of the sixth-storey window/open it/to the cold/to the sky/cos all anyone ever does around here is/dive

[Raechel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is very personal, so it can be difficult to rate. However, this collection felt very relatable to me, though I think I am one generation set back from it. I feel like I identified more with the mother than the author, and that's okay.

This is a great collection of modern poetry giving you a look into a young woman's life and feelings.