ANNE KENNEDY has published five books of poetry and fiction including the novel, A Boy and His Uncle (Picador). Sing-song won the 2004 Montana New Zealand Poetry Award. Her latest book is the narrative sequence, The Time of the Giants (Auckland University Press). She has worked as a scriptwriter and editor, and is a co-editor of the online literary journal Trout. Anne currently lives in Honolulu where she is taking up a teaching/writing fellowship.

Kennedy comments: ‘ “Die die, live live” is part of a narrative sequence about a young woman giant called Moss (The Time of the Giants), which is why the poem develops a bit of “story” towards the end.

New Zealanders will recognize the title as a loose translation of the haka, “Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora” (“I die, I die, I live, I live”) composed by the leader Te Rauparaha in the early 19th century. These words begin the most well-known poem in New Zealand. “Ka mate, ka mate” has long been commandeered by the All Blacks both to inspire themselves and to psychologically trample underfoot their opponents before play.

Much of “Die die, live live” could be taken down in note-form in almost any New Zealand living room during a test match. I’d like to thank my husband Robert and his friends for handing me the language of rugby-watching on a plate, year after year.’

 

Poem: Die die, live live