Myths and Legends of the Ancient Pakeha

In this collection of poems Glenn Colquhoun explores a range of Pakeha oral poetic forms; sea shanties, hymns, ballads, nursery rhymes and clapping songs. It is a companion volume to Nga Wahine E Toru, his collection of poetry in Te Reo Maori, and is richly illustrated by Nigel Brown. A soundtrack to the poems is available at www.glenncolquhoun.net

It was by looking at Maori oral poetry more closely that I came to ask what it is that a Pakehaoral poem might sound like. And whether it is capable of holding the same power. Might a seashanty meet the energy of a haka? Can a hymn stand up to a mateatea? To find out I went back to the ways that spoken English poetry first arrived in New Zealand: via sea-shanty and hymn, lullaby and nursery rhyme, working song, clapping song and skipping song. I also went back to what has often been the concern of oral poems, our histories.