Back to work with a new outlook...

 One of the neat things that I like about my job in education is that I work with a diverse group of individuals from different cultures and backgrounds even work ethics and values. So that it makes for a colourful day and never a dull moment. Some of the background events that have coloured my world and has shaped my life, I've written into short stories and poetry that will be featuring in my writing to be published this year.

I'm hoping to start the year by launching my first poetry collection which has been a long time coming. I must say that I've been writing poetry for years and this collection will feature some of the poetry that I first wrote in the 1990s. I'll also be featuring some of the more currently themes that have become important to me over time as a writer and I'll be interested in getting feedback as the year goes on.

For me, poetry writing started when I became really interested in studying poetry at high school. I was intrigued in how English teachers were able to decipher a story from a poem that sometimes made little sense to me. Now, as a writer, and having taught poetry to senior students for exams and studied poetry in my University courses, I have a better understanding about what it's all about and hope to share some of my thoughts with an audience of readers.

I first started writing poetry seriously whilst taking a Creative writing course with Albert Wendt (a now distinguished Samoan writer) at the University of Auckland in the early 1990s. At the time it was a Certificate in proficiency Creative writing course that only provided 12 spaces for people to apply for and at the end of the course a short collection was published. Now one can complete a PhD in Creative writing at any of the bigger Universities. I remember writing and then having to share a selected piece with the group often sitting on the floor in a circle. I'm sure that Albert Wendt didn't 'get' my poetry at the time but over time I've discovered and developed my own poetry style.

Some of the poets that I've enjoyed reading over time have included the great English writer William Shakespeare (and more about his influence in blog posts to come), Maya Angelou (African American), Ruperake Petaia (Samoan), Konai Helu Thaman (Tongan) just to name a few.

Am looking forward to venturing out and sharing some poems that will be funny, some controversial, some developed to make one think and sometimes to just ponder over...