'War and Peace' and a Poem about New Zealand

Aotearoa

They always say ‘retrace your steps’,

‘Click your heels three times: There’s no place like home,’

‘Where do you last remember them?’

But what if you’re far from the familiar, not in but out,

if they’re not to be found on the carpet

beneath a pile of half-folded laundry,

in the kitchen in the fridge in the vegetable bin with the broccoli,

still in the ignition, with the doors locked?

And what if your steps are slides

against the current, pushing past fear

into a coastline not as civilized as soap,

but lethal, dark, peopled with voices

not yet heard by men?

Then, if you are Kupe, what they say

will not do.

To find your keys, look up.

They’re in the clouds.

I wrote this for the "Word and Question" monthly challenge at Shredded Cheddar.  You submit a word and a question, then the host mixes and matches the words and questions at random and sends you a new word & question, from which you create a poem.   Many thanks to Enbrethiliel for organizing this monthly play-for-mortal-stakes: Talk about a creativity-booster!

My word was Aotearoa (the Maori word for New Zealand which translates roughly as 'land of the long, white clouds') and my question was, "Where are my keys?"  It took me three tries to get here:  first a villanelle that turned out lifeless and static, then a haiku that just didn't say enough, and then finally this free verse, which seems closer to the mark. 

What's the poem about?  Well, I researched Aotearoa and found the legend of Kupe, original explorer of Aotearoa, who used the clouds as guides and whose canoe was named after clouds as well.  I decided that he could ask the question, and I would offer the answer.  I think that the shift to something decent came when I decided to free up the form (more like Kupe's exploration), and to directly address the disjunct between the contemporary question and the mythic word.

War & Peace Summer Read-Along (6/24/11-8/22/11)

And now, on a completely different note:  Details for the War & Peace Summer Read-Along.

Let's try talking about it weekly, on Mondays, starting a week from today.  I'll make that section shorter so you can go get the book. Just "sign up" in the comments; I'm working on a button...

7/6: Book One, Parts 1 & 2
7/13: Book One, Part 3 and Book Two, Part 1
7/20: Book Two, Parts 2 & 3
7/27: Book Two, Parts 4 & 5
8/3: Book Three, Parts 1 & 2
8/10:  Book Three, Part 3 and Book Four, Parts 1 & 2 
8/17:  Book Four, Parts 3 & 4
8/24:  Epilogue & Whole Book Discussion

FYI:  No pressure.  If you jump in late or if nobody wants to read-along right now, that's actually fine because I'm reading it for my book group anyway - we're breaking it into two discussions, 1/month, but if you decide you want to read it with me, that'd be swell.   I'll just post a few thoughts on each Monday, trying to avoid spoilers.  Maybe my musings will pique your interest...

MFB,
L