Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Student Poetry Competition Winners 2021

4 tha kulture As the stars twinkle in the night sky, they twinkle like us, the grandchildren in my grandparents’ eyes.

As the sun rises and the sky light sweeps the darkness of the night away, it rises as we do in my grandparents' home.

As the pan of eggs seethe, toast jumps up from the heat of the toaster as we jump up to the large breakfast table and prepare for my grandfather’s prayer.

As the food is passed down the table for breakfast, we are not only eager for the arrival of the food, but also my grandfather's stories.

My grandfather, who salued the sea in the 1990s, tells us about our Pacific Heritage.

He tells us about the days he climbed up the coconut trees, the peaceful Sunday mornings at church with young children belting hymns from their little chests, the warm sun that shines through the sky and pigments his skin, the days he spent swimming swiftly through the clear waves at the beach with our family, the days of hard yards, learning cultural dances and performing them to his village, the days of showering in the rain while the warmth of the sun beams onto him, the days of riding his children to school on the back of his motorbike, he wants us to relive those days and experience the joy in our motherland, island joy. just as he had at our homeland.

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