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The Spinoff
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
‘She had mettle': Anne-Marie Te Whiu on poetry, weaving and whakapapa
Claire Mabey talks with poet, weaver, Atlantic Fellow and cultural curator Anne-Marie Te Whiu about her new collection of poetry, Mettle. Claire Mabey: Kia ora Ani, it's very nice to be talking to you about your beautiful poetry collection, Mettle. Why did you dedicate the book to your younger self? Anne-Marie Te Whiu: Because she's still here. You know that whole thing of you've got to be turning into the person that your younger self would have looked up to? I feel like now I'm 52 I'm just becoming that person, so I'm in conversation with her now, that little kid. It's taken all these decades but it's really beautiful. CM: And why 'mettle'? What does that word mean to you? AMTW: Being a poet, I love playing with language. So when I tell people I've written a collection called Mettle, I love seeing their faces. You can see they're thinking 'Oh so you've written about the periodic table? Is it from a science lens? It is about, like, heavy metal?' I love that. The reason I used 'mettle' is because when I was doing research on my whakapapa and the connection with Whina [Dame Whina Cooper], my great aunt, I looked at archival works, newspaper articles, that kind of thing. I found that one of the words that was used to describe her was that she had 'mettle' and that word just really struck me. CM: So your whakapapa is here in Aotearoa, and you were born in Australia. What is that relationship like for you? Is your collection working into that? AMTW: Exactly. It's working to understand myself. I use poetry as a vehicle and a platform to work out who I am. What does it mean to have whakapapa? How do I acknowledge that whilst being born on and living on these unceded, stolen lands? How do I reconcile that relationship? It's kind of reconciling with myself, really. It's also a vehicle for understanding my siblings, particularly my youngest brother – for him to further understand who we are. CM: I really like the poem 'Blood Brothers', where you're trying to have a conversation with your brothers and they're distracted by the stuff of daily life. AMTW: Totally. Don't you have that with your siblings? CM: Yes! Do you relate to the idea that there's always one sibling who seems to lead the family 'work' so to speak? I've observed over the years that there often seems to be one in the family who works on whakapapa and makes the connections and reconnections. Does that ring true for you? AMTW: 100% relate. I think that's exactly right. I have three brothers, one who sadly passed away – but growing up I was always the fourth wheel. Like, we need to play handball and need a fourth, might as well be her. CM: I was really also struck by your poem, the Letter to Keri Hulme that you've dedicated to essa ranapiri. Is it a fictional letter? AMTW: You're the fourth person to ask that! Like, what? No, it's totally fictional. That was a gift of a poem that was written because essa, who edited Mettle, invited me to be part of a journal dedicated to the legacy of Keri Hulme. We were asked to create whatever we wanted. But how awesome that you think that there's the potential there for the letter to have been real. It brings me back to the question of 'why poetry?' Poetry is a portal. It allows us to stretch and play. CM: I love that. It feels like so many roads lead back to Hulme. Is there anything in particular about her work that you love? ANTW: Her relationship to water. Watching tides, watching waves, reading waves; that's what I really related to. The writer Melissa Lucashenko embodies something of the way Hulme's work enters into your blood. There's something incredibly sacred about the way all the parts work together. There's a power in Hulme's work, and in Lucashenko's too. CM: You're a weaver as well as a writer. There's a poem in the book about having a 'weaving hangover'. What does that mean? AMTW: Have you been a weaver before? CM: Never. But I used to paint a lot. AMTW: Perfect. Here's the comparison. Would you paint until 4am and then go, how did that happen? Then the next day what you did is still with you. That's the kind of hangover I'm talking about. The number of nights I've had where it's got to four, five in the morning just weaving. CM: How does weaving relate to poetry for you? Or does it? AMTW: It compliments poetry rather than that they definitely meet. But I lean on one and then the other, and throw in a couple of dog walks in there as well for physicality. They're both practices that require being still so you gotta balance it with that physicality. CM: Mettle is out in both Australia and New Zealand and I imagine they're two really different audiences, in some ways. AMTW: Massively. I don't know if you got the little insert in the book when it arrived? It has this message explaining that Mettle delves into my whakapapa and then in brackets it says 'Māori genealogy'. Obviously that's so patronising and so unnecessary for the Aotearoa audience, and so imperative if I want to connect with this audience here in Australia. I've had a couple of moments of 'how do I bridge this?' But that's the work. That's our work as writers, producers, artists. We're bridge builders. CM: Have you had feedback on the book so far? ANTW: I got a beautiful message on Instagram from a gorgeous Australian-born wahine, about a poem I have in the collection about understanding and not understanding in a te ao Māori space. To have feedback from someone that gets it is so sweet. I've had feedback from the most important people who are my whānau. The book is for my younger self but we always write for those we love, too. Hopefully all my family will look at it and go, yeah, that's great. CM: In your acknowledgements you talk about a class you did at the IIML at Victoria University with Victor Roger. What was the impact of that class? AMTW: It was so significant being in a room with other Māori and Paskifika writers. Nafanua [Percell Kersel] was there, Nicole Titihuia Hawkins, Kahu Kutia, and a whole bunch of amazing writers. Victor led our waka in such a joyful and challenging way. It was a very, very profound experience. Blood Brothers i recite a karakia for my brothersthey would prefer i bring kebabs i tell them about the Hokianga they tell me about their bills i explain tangata whenua they turn up the TV i dream of Tāne Mahuta they roll a cigarette i summon the names of our ancestors they take their medication i miss our marae they put out the bins – Anne-Marie Te Whiu Mettle by Anne-Marie Te Whiu ($30, University of Queensland Press) is available to purchase from Unity Books. The Spinoff Books section is proudly brought to you by Unity Books and Creative New Zealand. Visit Unity Books online today.
Epoch Times
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
World Leaders Join Crowds in Rome for Pope's Funeral
The sun rose over a packed St. Peter's Square on the morning of April 26 as hundreds of thousands of the faithful gathered for the funeral Mass of Pope Francis I, together with world leaders. The funeral began at 10 a.m. local time, 4 a.m. ET, just outside St. Peter's Basilica. The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, accompanied by various cardinals, patriarchs, and bishops. An altar was placed just outside the doors of the iconic basilica, with seating areas for Cardinals and dignitaries placed on both sides. At the base of the parvis, a grid of white squares of seated clergy extended in the square to the looker's left side. Nearly every other space in the square and the Via Della Conciliazione was filled with the faithful. As pilgrims and politicians alike settled into their places, religious sisters led the entire congregation in recitations of the rosary, while the pontiff's coffin remained in its place inside, tended to by the Swiss Guard, allowing dignitaries a final chance to give an intimate farewell. In all, about 250 cardinals were expected to attend the Mass, many of whom would soon be called upon to elect the next pope, as well as scores of bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters, and hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world. People gather along Via della Conciliazione street ahead of late Pope Francis' funeral ceremony, near the Vatican in Rome on April 26, 2025. Henry Nicholls/AFP The patriarchs and cardinals were dressed in purple liturgical garments while the bishops were wearing plain white miters. The cardinals participating in the mass were wearing red. Related Stories 4/23/2025 4/25/2025 Also expected to attend, according to the Vatican, were delegations from at least 130 nations and international organizations, including 12 reigning monarchs, 14 heads of Government, 55 heads of State, and other officials. That expected list included President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania, who celebrated her 55th birthday on Saturday. Argentina President Javier Milei, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were also expected to be in attendance. US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump during the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Vatican on April 26, funeral mass program included readings from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians, and the Gospel of John. Cardinal Re was set to give a homily, and then the prayers of the faithful were to be given in Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Polish, and German. Following on from these are the liturgy of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, and the Rite of Final Commendation, concluding with the Ultimo Commendation and Valedictio—Latin names for the funeral rite's concluding prayer and farewell, formally entrusting the deceased to God. Music was set to be provided by the Choir of the Sistine Chapel. Next in the order of events, following Mass, is a procession to the pontiff's final resting place at the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, a few miles away. Inside, a tomb between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel, close to the Altar of St. Francis, has been prepared to receive him. The four-kilometer procession from St. Peter's Square was programmed to progress at a slow pace, allowing Romans to bid farewell along the way. According to the Vatican, the route follows a path Pope Francis took before and after his 47 apostolic journeys and after his hospital stays to pray before the Virgin Salus Populi Romani Icon. will be joined by several other officials who are required to take part in the liturgical celebration. Those include Re, along with Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state under Francis, and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general for the Diocese of Rome. By direct request of Pope Francis, a group of poor and needy people referred to as 'the last ones' will be at the steps of the basilica to pay their respects before his coffin is interred. ''The poor have a special place in God's heart.' So too in the heart and Magisterium of the Holy Father, who chose the name Francis so as to never forget them,' the The coffin was to be placed in the tomb and sprinkled with holy water as participants recited the Regina Cæli prayer. Afterward, an official act confirming the burial was to be drawn up and read aloud by the notary of the Liberian Chapter, signed by the Cardinal Camerlengo, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, the Regent of the Papal Household, and the notary. This is the third papal funeral held by the Vatican in this millennium, and the entire ceremony was expected to end around 2 p.m. local time. Pope Benedict XVI's funeral in 2023 lasted around two hours, while the 2005 funeral for Pope St. John Paul II lasted about three hours. However, Pope Francis broke from tradition and chose not to be buried within St. Peter's Basilica.
