What is Contemporary Poetry and writing in the 21st Century
Poet Adam Rangihana his first book of Poetry "Returning Home"
Discussion started by Adam Rangihana 7 years ago
Adam Rangihana has no author's note of distinction. Aged 49, he began his journey working as a shepherd on a Farm Forestry Station just above the roaring 40's. of the Southern oceans. He writes poetry. He drinks water. And has just released his first book of poetry and short stories into the world.
A childhood spent in a broken family in New Zealand where he moved to Sydney at the age of 28. Not having enough money for his university studies he worked at various construction sites around the country hoping to earn enough to begin his studies. A major head injury stopped him from achieving this path and he was taken in by an Uncle and taught traditional Maori Fine Art. That journey resulted in his connecting with his Maori heritage. However, the specter of his broken childhood and head injury led to decades of pain, confusion, and loss. Through these many years, he worked different jobs always in search of some kind of peace not just from the physical pain but also some sort of resolution to his childhood experiences.
In search of these answers, he says " I found great solace in reading, everything but mainly history and for many years specifically Maori history."
"When writing I always found my starting point to be my home and culture"... Adam Rangihana
''In a sense, my entry into writing was my entry into Maori chant,'' he says. ''I still to this day remember my life on the farm when evening came and the sun was setting, or sitting outside the shearing shed, and when in winter the roaring 40's would visit the land of Aotearoa. I felt this incredible sense of connection to this world."
Not only did this insatiable desire to read introduce him to the greats of humanity past and contemporary: "I felt the urgency to write and the love of this form of expression." After a few years reading just as many novels, fiction as non-fiction I decided this is what I want to do. I want to write. This is something that I could devote my life to, and it would help to exercise the pain and loss of my early life. The greatest influences in my life have been learning about my culture both Maori and Scottish, being abused as a child and suffering a major head injury.
The Returning Home by Adam Rangihana
While these passions undoubtedly fed into the fabric and creation of his poems and short stories which mark it clearly as his. The strength of the book is its search for answers and in its short stories the hope and momentum for a future that is perhaps best described as unique.
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/returning-home-adam-rangihana?trk=pulse_spock-articles
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