Nā Mauao te karanga
ki te hāpara moata.
Me he pioke ahau
ko Tauranga te moana.
Me he manunui ahau
ko Kaimai te kōhanga.
Me he tuna ahau
Ko Te Wairoa te kōawa eee.
Chur, how’s it? I’m Te Kahupakea or Te Kahu or Matua Kahu or Kahu the poet or Suspkt the battle rapper, depending on who you ask. I’m a proud partner and Pāpā! I guess I would call myself the wandering manu of this intake of Te Papa Tupu? I could sit here and tell you about a bunch of things I have been fortunate enough to do on my journey, but that’s not me. I have always been the sort to prefer a kumara to just be sweet, instead of hearing all about it if you know what I mean? Or …..nah? Yeah well moving right along hahaha.
For me, Te Papa Tupu came at just the right time. Personally I had been in a high stress, incredibly demanding job for a while. At the same time I was juggling the creative mahi I do and still being the most present pāpā and partner I was able to be.
I made the decision that being available to my kids and partner was more important than a nice salary so I gave my notice at my full time job. The next week, I received news that I had been accepted on Te Papa Tupu. Suddenly I had time to be where I wanted to be, at home with my whanau!!!! I had an incentive to work on my writing and a mentor checking in to keep me accountable and active. I couldn’t really ask for a better nudge in the right direction from the universe than that could I?
Our Papa Tupu group met for the first time at ATURA hotel or Atu Rā as I call it, it’s a kupu Māori now hahaha. People started sharing about the manuscripts they had been working on. Mine, a collection of poems I have written over time that give glimpses into moments I have observed. Each piece tells a story I am hella proud of.
During our initial hui, the group shared. I became curious then inspired to write something different to what I normally would. It has allowed me to spend time growing and developing as a word weaver adding more skills to my tātua. This means that I am working on the manuscript of poetry that I absolutely believe in and am proud of, with the guidance of my very knowledgeable mentor. I am also working on a short novel about the adventure of me and my cousin with our maunga tupuna that I am equally as proud of. I guess you could say, I’m making the most of the privilege that is actually having time to write and I am having a chooooice time doing it!!! I will share more about the journey as time goes on.
Heoi anō, that feels like enough rambles from the wandering poet for now aye? How long is a blog even meant to be anyway? My college teacher’s answer to that would be, “As long as a rope, it all depends where you cut it”. I konei kati ai te kōrero haha.
Tēnā tātou katoa.
Nā
Te Kahu
