Michael Dom’s poetic gifts to the people of PNG
16 February 2016
KEITH JACKSON
MICHAEL Dom has given the people of Papua New Guinea – and, more recently, people around the world – the great gift of his poetry.
During my consulting years in Asia, I was once informed by a proud Bangladeshi that each one of his countrymen was a poet. I have concluded that in every Papua New Guinean there also lies the music and lyricism of poetry – and increasingly the rest of us are recognising this and appreciating it.
And we are learning that things can be said, matters can be raised, through the incisive stiletto of poetry that are more difficult to achieve in prose. Melanesians seem to understand this and are great exponents of it.
And now Michael Dom, surely the doyen of PNG poets and who is developing an international reputation, has granted free access to two collected volumes of his verse, an updated version of O Arise! and his latest collection, Send words as gifts.
O Arise! includes some new poems and other material from the desk of the poet.
When this collection was first published, Martyn Namorong wrote of it:
WHAT is a Papua New Guinean writer but a warrior continuing the proud traditions of their ancestors, firing arrows that defend the land but also feed the tribe. I believe that is what the modern Papua New Guinean writer does. We defend the land of our ancestors and we also enrich the lives of our people with entertainment, information and ideas.
In continuing that fine tradition, Michael Dom writes with a spirit that connects many of us as we sometimes reflect on the world around us. What is that spirit? I think it’s the voice in our hearts that connects us with our land, our languages, our cultures and our sense of belonging to this ancient land of ours.
In its negative form it sometimes divides us, but there a moments of brilliance where it raises our consciousness to a higher level of awareness about what makes us one people under one flag and constitution. I find such positive energy in Michael’s poem One day, in this place, we will have good things.
And, in my foreword to Send words as gifts, I wrote:
SOMEHOW, through forces not evident or apparent, in Michael Dom Papua New Guinea produced a world class poet. He is a poet equally capable of devious nuance, spiralling metaphor and rock-crushing bellicosity; sometimes in the one piece of writing and always with a message.
Words as Gifts reminds us that Michael Dom has been writing poetry for 20 years, plenty of time to hone a style and a purpose. And that purpose has been frequently political, keeping a weather eye on those who seek to exercise power and especially those who exercise it in their own rather than in the common interest.
But this collection takes us elsewhere: into the realm of the poet’s personal experience, into his relationships with beings animate and inanimate and into the core of what it means to be a Melanesian and a poet.
So these two books, Michael's third and fourth, are available for free download exclusively from PNG Attitude.
If you wish to purchase hard copies for your own library at home, they are also available from Amazon for $5.90 (B&W) and $19.00 (colour).
And let me offer Michael the last word: “It seems somehow fitting that this labour of love was completed on Valentine’s Day.”
You have boi stret....mi proud lo yu, mangi Lae..
Posted by: Marlene Dee Gray Potoura | 22 February 2016 at 02:51 PM
Ay, that's right, Stanley.
Assistant Pig Keeper - Lounge Room Warrior - Prime Minister of Piggery.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 17 February 2016 at 09:00 PM
The Lounge Room Warrior!
Posted by: Stanley Amben | 17 February 2016 at 08:26 PM
Hi Keith, an Indian colleague and good friend of mine told me this amusing anecdote from his village.
After traveling through India and visiting the great temples and shrines a tourist group stops at a local village along the highway.
It's a welcome respite after sitting through the long drive watching the driver maneuvering with great skill through herds of cattle, avoiding elephants at a hairs breadth, speeding lorries with horns blaring and motorcyclists with female passengers perched precariously on the back seat, their sari's billowing in the wind.
The village has some old ruins which offer the tourists good photo opportunities.
After looking around for a bit one of the tourists asks the local guide, who happens to be from this village (as you'd expect).
Tourist: "Well, you're village looks like any other place we've seen on our travels. But we know that many gurus and wise philosophers were born in villages like this in India."
Guide: "Hmm, ah, yes, yes!" Nodding his head in that curious round-and-round gesture that Indians have which seems to mean neither yea nor nae.
Tourist: "So tell me, my good man, were there any guru's, philosophers or historical figures born in your village?"
Guide: Nodding his head,"Yes sir, this is my village, I was born here. That is my grandmothers house over there." Pointing to a weathered red-brick house at the edge of the road.
Tourist: Patiently,"Yes, I understand, this is your birth place. But is it also the birth place of anyone famous?"
Guide: Nodding his head again, "No sir, this place is not famous, sir. Just my village."
Tourist: A bit impatient now. "Yes, this is your village. You were born here. It is not famous. But were any great men born in this village?"
Guide: Still circling his head, but now looking confused. "Great men, sir?"
Tourist: "Yes, great men.
Guide: Born here?
Tourist: "Yes, were great men born in your village?"
Guide: Nodding his head and smiling. "Oh no sir, no. Not in my village, sir.
In my village only babies are born. Are great men born in your village?"
It just may be that every Indian is a philosophizing comedian at heart.
Are great men born in your village?
__________
And while we're on the subject, a Bangladeshi joke:
Traveller - Hey man, how do I get to Sujapur?
Farmer - You can't get there from here.
Traveller - You're a fool....
Farmer - But at least I'm not lost.
KJ
Posted by: Michael Dom | 17 February 2016 at 01:41 AM
Congratulations Angra Dom, on your new poetry book.
We will have the real taste of your poetic spears to read.
Wakai Weh!
Posted by: Jimmy Awagl | 16 February 2016 at 04:07 PM
Very nice, Michael. Look forward to reading the books. Keep on writing!
Posted by: Joe Herman | 16 February 2016 at 03:49 PM
Great stuff! Looking forward to the read!
Posted by: Lapieh Landu | 16 February 2016 at 12:21 PM
A true role model for aspiring writers.
Posted by: Dominica Are | 16 February 2016 at 12:07 PM
Thanks Michael for your creative efforts.
The world will be a better place from your thoughtful musings
Congrats and keep writing.
Posted by: Simon Davidson | 16 February 2016 at 09:35 AM
Congratulations Michael. Along with music, poetry lives forever.
Hope to meet you one day and say G'day.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 16 February 2016 at 08:58 AM
Thank you, Keith Jackson.
I am very proud to have these books on PNG Attitude.
This feels righteous!
Posted by: Michael Dom | 16 February 2016 at 08:56 AM