Davire, my Great Warrior

BY LEONARD FONG ROKA

New Guinea morons
they came to mine our land
and built they country;
as you were breast-feeding at Kavaronau.

Morose New Guineans, they were to our land,
our women and children.
Unjust they were to our culture and tradition;
as you were breast-feeding at Kavaronau.

Dastard New Guineans, they scolded
as ka-ka showed them his bows-and-arrows
at Panguna;
as you were breast-feeding at Kavaronau.

Coward New Guineans, they became
as you left your cocoon—calling them for a meet—
with they gun.
My freedom fighter.

Comments

[Leonard Roka]

Thanks bro. I am a Balinese. Also, a victim of that crisis. But when I look back on Bougainville and its problems and the men who stood to liberate our homeland, they have just lost the plot.

And when I write, I try my best to bring back to life those old doctrines that I, while growing up, gleaned from them to make them think and be responsble.

[B Kokosi [Retskin Mangi]]

I do not go against your views but how they were written.

Anyway, you may be partly from Bali Island, WNBP, so whenever you land at Hoskins Airport you will see a green house not far from the terminal.

That was home to me and my aungs during the 90's.

[Leonard Roka]

Thanks, B Kokosi. A writer that faces no criticism cannot measure his impact on society.

You ought to know that any form of literature, according to Chinua Achebe, can be effective if it only is centred within the writer's own environment.

Thus, I write within my area of thought, that is, I cannot force myself into your shoes since I will come out wrong.

Beside, any piece of literature must be appreciated by the author's own people and not some one else; that's the most fundamental reason as to why I have to write.

I suggest, brother, find the book, 'Hopes And Impediments' by Chinua Achebe and study it.

Nice criticism, anyway.

[B Kokosi [Retskin Mangi ]]

Your poem is very derogatory and shows your lack of understanding of the root cause of the Bougainville crisis.

Not all New Guineans approved of the government's involvement with BCL; nor were they part of the crisis.

And I want to let you know that my 'redskin parents' cared for many "aungs" and other Bougainvilleans who fled the crisis to educate themselves.

At one particular time there were around 20 of them living in our home, which is a typical L40 house. My dad has to built a 'saksak haus' to accommodate all of us.

And most of them were from Kieta. So shame on you for your generalisation on New Guineans.