A review by shit_she_reads
Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

3.0

“Poūkahangatus“ is Tayi Tibble’s debut collection and I was really intrigued by the beautiful cover art, the promise of pop culture meeting Māori culture, and the fact that I hadn’t read a book by a Māori author until then (shame on me—I know). I generally enjoyed the collection, but I thought it was sometimes hard to grasp the concept and meaning behind some of the poems. This is definitely due to my lack of knowledge about Māori and New Zealand’s history and culture, but I still would’ve loved some explanations or translations in a couple of footnotes. Some of the poems are put together really beautifully and I highlighted a lot of lines, but others felt a little more like rambling and I couldn’t really connect. Overall, I’m a little torn: “Poūkahangatus“ won’t become one of my favorite poetry collections and I don’t love Tibble’s writing style, but there are definitely some favorites and I would be interested in reading her second collection. 

My favorite poems are:
Cowboys and Indians
Nobody in the Water
Long White Clouds
LBD
Vampires versus Werewolves
Receipt
Identity Politics