8th book launch of "Pacific Hibiscus" 1st poetry collection...

So excited for this next book launch at Mangere Bridge library on Friday 29th July at around 1 pm as it's my first poetry collection to be published. I've been writing poetry for years and remember when I first became serious in writing poetry back in 1990 when I first took a creative writing class with Albert Wendt at Auckland University (back in the day - as they say).

Has been a neat exercise deciding which to add to my first collection as I have a few themes I've been writing about i.e. cultural issues, poverty and inequities with resources, disparities in education, motherhood, Samoa etc. and so it will include some "nice" poems as well as some that might be a bit controversial.

What I like about poetry is that you can make up your own rules and use word pictures to build up imagery in the readers mind. Usually poetry has a message for the reader to uncover and with some of my poetry there are layers to be peeled back in order to "get" the message.

The neat thing with the cover of this particular book is that I invited my youngest sis' (Maria Tauau) to design the cover image for the book with the spec's as being: a silhouette of a lady with long flowing hair and hibiscus flowers. I'm really pleased with the finished design result which will be revealed at the launch. The main image is seen above.

Too bad, it won't be ready for the Pacific Business Expo at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, this weekend, but that's okay as looking forward to a variety of opportunities to be able to share the poems and to explain the mysteries with any interested.

I also have a second collection planned for next year but suffice to say that with this collection it will feature some of my earlier poems as well as some poems that were written more recently...