New Year Cheer Starts Early in Samoa
TIME, 31 December 2011
Nafanua sivas
on Mount Matavanu —
gold goes to Samoa!
The night sky flowers,
lava garlands honour
victorious Samoa.
Eat our surf, Rapa Nui!
Flail in our wake, Christmas island!
Hawaii, here is the moon!
The mantle of power
has slipped from America’s
cadaver. Aloha!
Apia decrees
no Samoan shall die
on the thirtieth day
nor shall any be born.
Come on, Tokelau,
we Tardis to Asia!
In 2011 Samoa and Tokelau passed legislation that moved them across the international Pacific date line, and they were thus first to see in the new year in 2012, the year of the London Olympics. Nafanua is the Samoan goddess of war. Mount Matavanu is an active Samoan volcano. 'Moon' in the third stanza refers to the practice of displaying one's arse as an insult.
(c) 2012 Slush Poet
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