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Fast Talking PI, by Selina Tusitala Marsh. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2009. isbn 978-1-86940- 432-1, 72 pages. Includes cd. Paper, us$16.95.
I Can See Fiji: Poetry and Sounds, by Teresia Teaiwa. Sound recording. Featuring vocals and poetry by Teresia Teaiwa and Des Mallon on percussion. Sound design by Hinemoana Baker. Wellington: Fiery Canoe, 2008. In English, Fijian, and Maori. cd, poetry texts on insert. nz$24.99. Available online at https://kstore.net.nz/ hinemoana/store.html
Fast Talking PI is the first collection of poetry by Pacific Islander writer and scholar Selina Tusitala Marsh. The collection, represented by the title poem, succinctly captures the complex, contrary, and sometimes fractured identities of contemporary Pacific Islanders.
Marketed as a mixed-media product, the collection includes an audio cd with selected poems performed by Marsh. While many poetry collections and a few audio cds of poetry have previously appeared in the Pacific, Tusitala Marsh is the first to combine the two. This mixed-media format enhances the possibilities of understanding and appreciating the complexities of Pacific Islands poetry, bridging both contemporary literary traditions, and evoking traditional oral tradition, storytelling, and musical performance.
Marsh's collection is a loving, poetic tribute that interweaves genealogies of Pacific culture, cultural icons, and cultural tradition. This is not just someone who has a keen ear for sound and the capacity for a lovely turn of phrase. Throughout the collection, Marsh demonstrates her knowledge of Pacific history and culture, woven together through a combined tapping of traditional and contemporary poetic rhythms. As genealogy is a key aspect of Pacific Islands cultures, it is firmly incorporated throughout the content of the poems in a new kind of mele inoa (songs honoring esteemed people).
The best example is the title poem, "Fast Talkin' pi," which contains a dizzying mélange of snapshot images of contemporary Pacific Islander identities; the opening stanzas of the 131-line poem include the sometimes juxtaposed images of the "power walkin' / published in a peer reviewed journal...