THE 2025 TUWHARE POETRY SERIES: …took its name from one of Hone’s quiet resonant lines …it won’t be a lonely walk. A phrase that carries the promise of walking together in solidarity, evoking a spirit of collective courage, enduring strength and hope. This year we brought together poets whose work confronts, consoles and connects – their words joined a long line of voices reminding us that poetry has never been just about words on the page – it’s also about people joining voices and walking together. The Tuwhare Poetry Series invites community to walk together, listen, speak, remember, because it won’t be a lonely walk; not now, not ever.
The first session of the Tuwhare Series was Laying Siege To Lips – Apirana Taylor a poet and performer at the height of his powers was a very special experience to witness. Apirana took us on a rare poetry retrospective, and he had the room gripped in his storytelling prowess. He shape-shifted before us using his flute to return each time a seer, a raging street kid, a warrior dispossessed of reo and whenua, a prophet handing out meditation, haka and haiku. Strength and love in equal balance, he took our hearts and minds out into the universe and then back into the venue. He finished quietly. We were awe struck, we stood, a standing ovation. Fortunately, Victor Rodger as chair, an expert in the journey of performance, commanded there would be no questions, we all needed time to sit, hold space, be in conversation. The last few minutes were a balm, a time to return to the world of the living. Apirana told us he met Hone Tuwhare as a boy, asking his father, ‘who is that man in the lounge?’ A prophet in passing. And who stood before us last weekend? The echo, the answer, the whakapapa of poetry in Aotearoa.
Beautiful.
