It is 'Okusitino Mahina who initiated me to the fascinating universe of Tongan poetry. I met him in Sydney. One of the most fortunate chance encounters of my life, as I had already decided to go to Auckland in 2005 to study one or more Polynesian languages. Here is an interesting basic glossary of Tongan poetics. I can't use the macron (to designate long vowels) here; instead, I'll capitalize the long vowels.
tA (time)
vA (space)
tA-vA (time-space)
hiva kakala (song of sweet-scented flowers, i.e. love poetry)
lausipi (spoken poetry)
faiva (to beat space, i.e. performance art)
ta'anga (place of beating, i.e. poetry, language)
hiva (to mark space with voice or sound, i.e. music)
haka (to articulate bodily movement, i.e. dance)
Especially interesting is how "faiva" and "hiva" are related to each other, and how "hiva" develops into "hiva kakala."
tufunga (to beat space, material act)
tufunga lalava (lashing, literally, line-space sculpture)
This lashing is connected with the material arts of house-building and boat-building.
tufunga tAmaka (stone sculpture)
tufunga langafale (architecture, literally, house building)
'Okusitino very kindly gave me a copy of his newly published bilingual Reed Book of Tongan Proverbs (Auckland, 2004). Before he began his conference he played the nose flute. It was so impressive. I am sure this book will guide me along the way toward the rich islands of Polynesian poetics. I am already thinking about visiting Tonga in 2005.
The book's Tongan title is: Ko e tohi 'a e Reed ki he lea Tonga heliaki.
