Hiri Hanenamo emi danis, Hiri Moale Festival, 2014 (Stella Blog)
MICHAEL DOM
This new poem in Tok Pisin and English uses the primaquatrain poetic form which I have invented. It is meant for original composition in Tok Pisin and seems to work well that way for me - MTD
Eh, meri nambis ia
Longpela garas bilong yu
Emi tanim ai bilong mi
Na tromoi lewa olsem purpur
Continue reading "Hiri Hanenamo emi danis" »
DUNCAN GABI
| My Land, My Country
MADANG - I joined the long queue outside BSP bank in Goroka at around something to 12 to pick up my long overdue bank card.
I had lodged an application for a new bank card a month ago. About two weeks ago, thinking my card was ready, I went to pick it up.
Continue reading "A brief meeting of two souls" »
PHILIP FITZPATRICK
TUMBY BAY - The old man looked down at the rippled and translucent skin on the back of his hand.
He slowly closed his fist but that just accentuated the brown blotches and spindly blue veins.
When he eventually lifted his eyes be became aware of being watched from the end of his bed.
Continue reading "So good to be home" »
SIMON DAVIDSON
When suns setting rays,
Touched western horizon,
The ev’n skies lit up,
And burned as with flames.
I set my eyes transfixed,
At the evenings fireworks,
At the transient glory,
Oblivious to Covid-19’s rage.
Continue reading "A moment in Paradise" »
A G SATORI
Mama, I can't come home for Christmas. I love you and miss you still. I want to say Merry Christmas in person but can't.
But I know where you will be each day. We had done this together so many times - three days before Christmas service.
Continue reading "I can't come home for Christmas" »
JIMMY AWAGL
The tropical rainforest
Stretching up the slope
Tree tops shrouded in cloud
Offering a misty canopy
Drifting through the leaves
The sun’s descending rays
Spreading their radiant fingers
Touching the hovering vapour
Flaring before us in a golden spray
Blinding our eyes in a rainbow spectrum
Continue reading "Mountain Forest" »
JIMMY AWAGL
Shut down
Lock down
Hold on for dear life
Got to live this life
Shut down the operation
Government needs cooperation
Continue reading "Covid Lock Down" »
JIMMY AWAGL
An invisible tremor shakes the earth
as an enemy crosses our paths
Like a silent wind uprooting our lives
and bearing the curse of disease
Small but forceful it penetrates
wherever it lands, crushing lungs,
A mysterious enemy invading all
around the globe, an invisible smoke
Continue reading "Covid-19" »
Aishi Nokowano Gitehoma aka Papa Sii, Kotiyufa Village, Iufi-Iufa, 2013
AS TOLD BY PAPA SII TO BAKA BINA
PORT MORESBY – Before I continue this story, I should let you know that it is an adaptation of a legend told by Papa Sii, whose image is at right
I have taken the words he told me and retold it using a contemporary overlay story of some bored village children.
Continue reading "Piku-Piku and Asukena – Part 3" »
Piku-Piku (black grasshopper)
AS TOLD BY PAPA SII TO BAKA BINA
LEGEND - Nana-Muni held the bottle out to the three girls and Sukare took it carefully between two fingers, took a quick look and passed it to Teniso.
Teniso was a tomboy and she turned the bottle upside down and let the asukena (mole grasshopper) scramble onto Sukare’s hands.
Sukare gave a scream and a wince and dropped the bottle. The asukena scurried off into the kaukau vines.
Continue reading "Piku-Piku and Asukena – Part 2" »
Asukena (mole cricket)
AS TOLD BY PAPA SII TO BAKA BINA
Baka Bina’s ninth book, Tales From Faif, is due for release before the end of December. It includes for extracts from the popular Cry Me a River series, two from the Pineapple series, four legends and three contemporary stories - KJ
A LEGEND - Alonaa was bored. He did not like the idea of babysitting the terror cousins –the three girls, Teniso, Sukare, Panikame, and two boys, Nana-Muni and Metty-Mahn, who were smaller than him.
The girls were terrors - more like terriers - who were too troublesome to look after.
Continue reading "Piku-Piku and Asukena – Part 1" »
JIMMY AWAGL
The calm breeze from the sea waves
Moves peacefully to the shore
Unsettles the tender palm leaves
Offers a sense of calmness, like
the grass-skirts of Papuan girls
The aroma of this gentle breeze
Moves sweetly across the lonely beach
As the soft sand squishes beneath my feet
Creating gentle puffs of crystal dust
Gathered by the breeze and taken where
Continue reading "Coastal Village" »
Lake Murray dawn PNG (Ian-Lloyd-Neubauer)
JIMMY AWAGL
Heavenly lights subside in the sky
As the glow of the flame arrives
Kissing the soft dew settled on leaves
As the beauty of a new day appears
Observe this time passing your eyes
This time that dictates your life
Either to rise or fall; succeed or fail
It’s the time flame that dominates earth
Continue reading "When the flame kisses the earth" »
TATTIANA ABOLA
The battle seems a losing one
Your opponent tough and strong
You feel afraid, tense, and tremble
Surveying his massive frame
At the back of your mind you’ve lost
It gives not a chance of winning
Are you so weak, or what is this?
Why you're here, and why this fear?
Continue reading "This Fight is Yours" »
JIMMY AWAGL
The dream is bitter
Not really better
than days gone by
I walked your way
To be close to your heart
but it was closed to me
The dream is a fairytale
Your love was legendary
until it all turned to clay
Continue reading "Shattered Dream" »
ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts
As Pala was readying the food for his wife Tarubo at the vavine numana (women’s house), Laka left for her own house in the village.
When Pala came out, Laka was gone. Pala went to Laka’s house, but there was no one there. The house was quiet as if abandoned.
Continue reading "Garo Matana, the blue-eyed child – Part 3" »
ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts
An hour had passed and Laka had not yet returned from the village. Tarubo and Pokana waited for another hour and still there was no sign of her.
With growing impatience, they waited for two more hours, but Laka did not return.
Continue reading "Garo Matana, the blue-eyed child – Part 2" »
JIMMY AWAGL
Heavenly flame caging its eyes
Within the shadow of darkness
Before the fire’s soft glow
At the edge of the women’s hut
Align parallel facing each other
The midnight princesses align
With their tender oily flesh
Bird of paradise framing their face
Through dim flame a golden brown
Alongside eager encircling kumuls
Continue reading "Simbu Courtship" »
ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts
Outside the small brown vavine numana (Papuan women’s house), just beyond the civilised world, it was a cold rainy evening.
Standing 20 metres high on the plateau of Rako, the vavine numana was set some way from the village of Babaka. Within, a young pregnant woman, Tarubo, laboured in the pangs of childbirth.
Continue reading "Garo Matana, the blue-eyed child – Part 1" »
JIMMY AWAGL
Mandated politicians surging
In desperate quest for power
Conditioned by greed for money
Demeaning their role as leaders
Spinning like mad wheels
Slithering like bad eels
Stomachs filled with beer
and flaps, the food of politicians
Continue reading "Ridiculous Twisticulous Politiculous" »
PHILIP FITZPATRICK
FICTION -The man has a battered metal bowl in his hands. His left eye is opaque but he stares at me with his right eye.
I look down at him and he extends the bowl towards me with both of his hands and holds it there smiling hopefully.
Continue reading "The battered metal bowl" »
SAMUEL LUCAS KAFUGILI
A puppet is no more than,
human hand in lifeless glove,
A finger cluster in one round hole,
Following one man’s orders.
The canon is filled with puppets,
Mindless but yet power-hungry,
Trapped in a snare of enticement,
Just a limp cloth around someone’s hand.
Continue reading "Moving glove puppets" »
SAMUEL LUCAS KAFUGILI
Mt Giluwe, oh Giluwe
Kiluwe in mother lingua franca,
from whose mighty peaks,
the freezing mists disgorge
And snowflakes that puff out,
and ice, the spray-gunned ice,
Sending away the glacial drops
that slide into the mist
Continue reading "Kiluwe, oh Kiluwe" »
MICHAEL DOM
| Ples Singsing
Translations: Bahasa by Sylvana Sandi; Tok Pisin by Michael Dom; Hiri Motu by Gemona Konemamata
She rises late in the afternoon
And tonight she carries her umbrella
Smoky tendrils trail behind her glittering sarung kobaya
As she strolls across my universe
Far, far away she walks, alone
Where my arms cannot reach to embrace her
Continue reading "Tonight the Moon Carries Her Umbrella" »
BAKA BINA
PORT MORESBY - Darn the wind!
As she stepped out of the PMV bus outside the Port Moresby town police station, Matalina immediately knew she would be in trouble.
The gale-force wind, blowing fast and furious from Ela Beach over the isthmus to Fairfax Harbour, was sweeping the debris away and replacing it with its own rubbish of torn bushes and plants.
Continue reading "When the rains fall red" »
JOY MILAMALA
I am the Corona Virus or Covid-19
I seem to be making headlines this year
In your news, radios and papers
All that you ever see and hear
Continue reading "The Corona Virus" »
SAMUEL KAFUGILI
Perhaps beautiful as sunny rays,
Shining as a diamond glimmers,
But in reality merely flesh,
Garlanded to attract a man,
Dishonest beauty to deceive a gent,
Reckoning he may be quite handsome,
Feeling that he desires a lassie,
A bloke with a heart for love,
Continue reading "Deceitful beauty of a lassie" »
SAMUEL LUCAS KAFUGILI
A web of human mind,
Showing deep mind boggling,
A thought like a wireless gadgets,
Impelling deeper work of a neuron.
A tangle mind fearful,
Human inflated badly,
The power of muddled mind,
Disappearing sagacity of permissive.
Continue reading "The Power of Muddle Mind" »
HILDA DAVID-AIPI
That precious moment
That glorious morning
In that place of worship
My life’s course to change
From being young to now
My life’s destiny, you
You were destined for me
Continue reading "Destined For Me" »
JOSEPH TAMBURE
Have experienced sad and all emotions
Sometimes faced death, unprepared but conquered
But will one day return to that faraway place I call home
Sun burned, rain washed, cold wind chilled
Have travelled, tastes of all kinds felt
Seen faces of all colours, heard strange dialects
One day to return to that faraway place I call home
Continue reading "Final Resting Home" »
ISO YAWI
Written for my nieces Fidelyn and Shamalyn
Dear Big Sister
I write this letter to tell you
About my world
It all began
In a little young a soul
Yes, my soul
Deep fear and sadness arise
It filled my vessel with anxiety
Like a mist watering the earth
Continue reading "Letter to My Big Sister" »
WARDLEY BARRY
I don't take to poetry
For fun or for the thrill –
Not anymore.
I don't take it lightly.
There's a darker feel,
An even darker story
To every line, every jot,
Every ill-gotten thought.
Continue reading "From An Old Poet" »
WALLACE PARIMAHI
Port Moresby - Wallace’s story, ‘Project Infiltration’, won the Grades 11 -12 category for Best Language Usage Story in the Paradise College ANIS Writing Competition
DAY FIFTY-TWO BEGAN with fear; the type that kept me awake at night; the type that filled me with disconcerting uncertainty; the type that was present from the beginning.
It had been fifty-two days since my carefully orchestrated escapade and too long since my unfortunate kidnapping. I had seemed to have lost track of time.
Continue reading "Project Infiltration" »
PHILIP FITZPATRICK
So what did you do for a crust?
Oh, the usual, public service and all that
Me too, I was in health administration
Before that I was a kiap in Papua New Guinea
That’s interesting, who do you barrack for?
I walked the high mountains and deep valleys
I reckon the Eagles will make the finals this year
I met men who had never seen steel before
Go on, is that right, is that your car out there?
And I saw men fighting with bows and arrows
Continue reading "I spent a bit of time in New Guinea" »
ISO YAWI
A band of warriors
Bold and brave with spears
Splendour of their forefathers
Invoked deep is their courage
Faces painted traditional colours of war
All true stewards of nature!
Brothers and sisters of Morobe
Spears sharpened in Tutumang haus
They will not give up
Fighting for Huon Gulf's clear beauty
Saying no to the mine's deep sea deposits
All true stewards of nature!
Continue reading "All true stewards of nature" »
RAYMOND SIGIMET
We who fear darkness
Or stoke his powers
Will come under his spell
A pit hard to ascend
Our breath will become his
Giving life to him
And all things sinister
That imprison our will
Continue reading "A menace called fear " »
RAYMOND SIGIMET
Have all good poems been written
That we today have none to share
What then of the heart being smitten
By the beauty of eyes that stare
Or the walk that none can compare
Have all good poems been written
That we today have none to read
What then of the loss that burden
A broken heart held by a thread
Or photo lost to time instead
Continue reading "Let words be not silent or sleep alone" »
STEPHANIE ALOIS
You had your plans
But I wish you had involved hers
You told her you love her one moment
But disappeared in the next
You knew she’d risk anything for you
That she’ll face the world alone
But you still left anyway
Why were you so selfish?
How could you?
Continue reading "How" »
A G SATORI
FACTION - I sidled up to Ve’ Maghe working on his next piece of writing or legal argument. He was engrossed in penning a few lines and did not look up.
I’d been friends with Ve’ Maghe for a long time and had been around him so long I think he could recognise my smell, especially the lavender cologne that I liked to wear. It was registered in his brain.
Continue reading "Law & the unfairness we face" »
BAKA BINA
FICTION – “Watch where you go there. Don’t you see your brother’s momberr? You will walk all over your brother’s tapolis!”
What momberr or what tapolis, and what language are they this time? I need not ask about the latter.
That was Forapi or Low Lufa language from the Eastern Highlands Province. It was Bubu’s sentimental language.
Continue reading "My brother’s marbles" »
RAYMOND SIGIMET
When the white starch is here
Mama and papa will smile and wink
Now they have food of their people
That special food from fertile lands
Which stands proud on the land
When the white starch is here
Mama and papa will talk and laugh
Now they have food from home
That special food to be shared
Which brings occasion to family
Continue reading "That Special Starch " »
GREGORY BABLIS
Masks protect
They conceal
They hold back
Then they reveal
They identify
They distinguish
They may terrify
But may also save you future anguish
Continue reading "Of Masks and Meanings" »
RAYMOND SIGIMET
I
FICTION - The young woman drifted almost unnoticed to sit beside me. She was probably in her mid-twenties and without doubt strikingly beautiful.
From the way she was dressed she seemed educated. Maybe a teacher or a nurse or a research student who, like me, was headed to the islands.
I was on the starboard deck of MV Papua with just the warm sea breeze and a Philip Fitzpatrick Hari Metau novel keeping me company when she took the empty seat beside me.
Continue reading "Between islands" »
EDWIN LAKO
KUNDIAWA - Sine-Gai Tine oh, Prena oh! Your face is like the sunrise when looking up from the bottom of Mt Wilhelm, blinding me for a moment.
Your complexion is as fair as the sands of Madang beach, your hands are as tender as a shepherd’s and you have a warrior’s calf.
Your eyes and smile mesmerise me, and your laughs, they hypnotise me.
Continue reading "Ohh Sine-Gai Tine" »
STEPHANIE ALOIS
Always in a dilemma of loathing and loving
Your family that keep secrets
You are dismayed but they plead for your silence
It’s for your protection they say,
It’s for everyone’s peace
You want to disappear
But the feeble child inside you feels insecure
Home is what they provide
So you tolerate their exploitative ways
Yes, we all get broken any way
And a reckless healing would do anyway
Continue reading "Reckless Healing" »
LINDSAY F BOND
Words that Francis plied to vantage
verbs he wove into his work,
nouns he’s nourished now are vintage,
wounds he hid nor spoke nor wrote;
epithets his ought not languish,
pronouns he so keenly wrought,
determiners he spiced, assuaged,
wants, inveigles, interests, sought.
FICTION BY RAYMOND SIGIMET
I didn’t see my baby after the Caesarian. My sedated state made it impossible to do that.
After the procedure, the baby was taken from the operating theatre and brought to the nursery. I was told I would not see my miracle until I was able to sit up in bed.
I was afraid I might not recognise my baby.
Continue reading "Hail Meri" »
FRICTION BY PHILIP FITZPATRICK
The theory goes that if you elect your leaders democratically you end up with a disorganised rabble of one trick ponies, carpetbaggers and other chancers running the place.
According to proponents of this ‘democracy is a rabble’ theory, a one party system is a lot more efficient and better for the general populace.
Continue reading "How to find a good dictator" »
GREGORY BABLIS
Is this the death of progress?
Or the progression of death?
NCO – New Covid Order
A Trojan-horse
For NWO – New World Order
Stuck in purgatory
A perpetual limbo
Is this the new normal?
Niupla Pasin protocol.
Continue reading "Coviet-Straggler in Paradise" »
Jeremiah Munini
JEREMIAH MUNINI
PORT MORESBY - Kipilan, a leader of the Yanarian people near Wabag in Enga Province, was born in Tambori village, in the 1920s.
Three months before Papua New Guinea’s independence on 16 September 1975, he went to Port Moresby to record the story of his life in the Enga language and anthropologist Philip Nere translated it to English.
Continue reading "Kipilan’s moka exchange" »