labellementeuse | (no subject)

Entry tags:

poetry (mine)

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landing

get this,
I was born on the edge of the world.

We're tougher out here, don't you get it?
in old maps new zealand
barely makes it on there, the tip of the North

growing up,
falling off the edge of the world,
It puts the sky in us, the space
and the stretching, open spaces;

white clouds for miles, aotearoa
is balancing on the rim
of the biggest dinner plate in history.

new zealanders, we know what we're about
we do a good balancing act;
afraid that someday we'll fall off the edge of the world,

we're busy learning how to fly.

This is actually a recap of an earlier poem which I didn't tag or memory at the time and now of course have lost. *facepalm* I think I like it better than the original, but not actually having the original I'm not sure. :P

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I really love free-verse poetry. I wish I had some scrap of national pride (ie American patriotism--wait, no, I don't wish I had national pride. Dammit, cultural pride is the word I'm looking for).

(Alida needs to go find her Italian national pride before she goes insane.)

Anyways. I love it.

I like writing vers libre, it's soooo much easier. :P Heh, I see this less about being proud of my nation- although sometimes I am, I think that kind of patriotism can be, um, dangerous... it's sort of more about really loving the country and the people and living here. I dunno. I really do love this place, even when I can't stand the government. :P

Thank you!

Heh. Wish I could say the same. Maybe I ought to write poetry about my city. I really do love the place and the people in it.

Now I need to go find out about the New Zealand government...I'm afraid I know nothing about it (we Americans are a bit wrapped up in our own problems, unfortunately...)

Absolutely! I feel the same about my hometown, which I miss desperately just now.

Heh, actually right now the government is pretty good- actually it's uncertain right now because we just had the election and they're in the process of formin a coalition, but it will probably be a nice left wing Labour (social democrats)/Green (...green)/Progressive (socialist/unionist) coalition which will be liberal and stuffs. Yay!

We've had a Labour-run coalition for the past six years and they've been socially quite liberal, passing the Prostitution Reform Bill and the Civil Union Bill (legalising prostitution and creating civil unions, which are legally almost identical to marriage, which both straight & gay couples can get.) They're anti the war in Iraq and yeah, I can't think of all that much that would mean something to an American. *hums thoughtfully* More like Democrats than Republicans, although New Zealand politics in general is more left than either party, happily.

Wikipedia has an entry on NZ politics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_New_Zealand) which would be informative, if you're interested. :)

Eesh. You make me want to hop onto a plane to NZ...as you may know, socialists like me are getting rather...pwnzed...in America. I guess Red Fever never really wore off :(

But my city, on the other hand...it's Bohemian at it's soul, and I love it. We're pretty much the smaller version of Seattle, which is like the most liberal city in America. So, yeah, I love my town (and it's on the ocean! J'adore the ocean.)

You're welcome anytime... :) We're ALWAYS sympathetic to political asylum seekers from the States. *pet*

:D that's pretty cool. Here all our conservative faction tends to come from the country- I mean, in the cities you get the rich )&^$@(ers but mostly we vote liberal in the cities and conservative in the country, so I guess it's similar in the States? Plus the States is so big it can really sustain such a huge variety of different, you know, thought and practically sub-societies- the America of New York and Seattle is totally different from the America of Texas and different again from LA and stuffs. *g* Love the City, Hate the Country.

I dunno. Some cities are a little gross/weird/conservative (coughhoustincough)...but I mean, my state (Maine) is always a blue state, and it's got a lot of country (I'm really from a tiny little farm town myself, I just moved to the city last year)...so yeah, you're right, it's pretty varied.

And here's an article about the very current situation just post-election. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_general_election%2C_2005)

Yay! Patriotism! :p 's good, good :)

*facepalm* this is SO NOT PATRIOTISM. it's not about my nation, going "YAY NEW ZEALAND R KEWL AND CAN DO NO WRONG." It's love of my country but not my nation state, IYKWIM.

wellikindadon'tknowexactlythedifferenceumyeah

Well. Patriotism can possibly mean either, but I hate the concept of patriotism and being a patriot. It's all bpund up in the superiority of one country over all the others, and the rightness of the actions of that country over all others- totally different from just loving your country. And it makes all those horrible Americans tell people against the war in Iraq that they're unpatriotic and don't love their country just because they don't support the war and Bush. It's such a horrible restrictive notion.

You see my idea of patriotism is wanting Jacob Moore's babies, so it's all relative ;););)

... who?

The drummer from the Checks. This dude

It's not a great picture, he's normally really hot :P

What's IYKWIM? lol

By the way, I'm snagging no. 6 of your JKB icons- just gorgeous! I will try and credit properly this time! :P

"If You Know What I Mean" is the acronym, and that's cool. :)

Good poem

re patriotism - Don't get confused with nationalism, which is a whole nother thing.

Via Google
* love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it; "they rode the same wave of popular patriotism"; "British nationalism was in the air and patriotic sentiments ran high"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

* Patriotism is a feeling of love and devotion to one's own homeland (patria, the land of one's fathers). This article surveys the concept of patriotism from the viewpoints of history, politics, ethics, and biology.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotism

* To show love, support, and sacrifice for one's country.
www.nps.gov/mana/education/vocab.htm

And even nationalism doesn't necessarily mean "my country is better than yours". But gutless politicians usually use the negative approach to nationalism, working on the fears of people (whether or not they're well founded) and wrapping it up in a flag and calling it patriotism.

I think your poem was very patriotic, in the best possible way.

Hmmmmmm. Thanks, that's interesting and a good distinction to know. *hums thoughtfully* I think the repeated mention of sacrifice is what disturbs me most about patriotism; much as I really do love NZ, I find the concept of self-sacrifice for a fairly abstract ideal to be frightening.

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