Poukahangatus: Poems

In Tibble’s seismic debut, the young poet’s rollicking, indignant, and invigorating narratives contend with history and navigate what it means to be millennial, female, and of Māori descent. Tibble stares unblinkingly at bigotry, her ferocity consuming the male, white, evangelical gaze she encounters. With influence as a prominent motif, she evaluates role models, among them Medusa, “a master carver, engraving her existence in bone/ forever.” (Tibble also cheekily asserts that “it must be difficult not to sprout a head of/ snakes in a society that constantly hisses at you.”) A love poem to an implicit white American male exemplifies the collection’s satirical edge and Tibble’s irreverent humor: “Shoot me quick Cupid! I’m a dangerous native! u drive me deep/ into the wild. I feel... dislocated! in ur eyes the colour of money/ or... a forest on fire. Ur just so classically handsome! Like... a red/ American Mustang & I’m your tiny dashboard dancer... keeping/ your eyes off the road.” Tibble’s kinetic use of language makes this an exciting and memorable debut. (July)