What are the themes and messages in the poem sad joke on a marae by apirana Taylor?

Answer 1

In 'Sad Joke on a Marae' Apairana Taylor continues to come back to the point that because Tu has lost touch with his Maori culture he is not a real Maori, as he can't even speak his own language. "Above me the Tekoteko raged, he ripped his tongue from his mouth, and threw it at my feet." From this quote we can see that the Tekoteko (figure at the top of the Marae) is outraged so much by the fact that Tu can't speak his own language that he rips his own tongue from his mouth and throws it at him. Such an extreme action shows us the level of disgrace that the Tekoteko feels by this. I feel that Apairana Taylor beliefs that one should never lose touch of the culture that he comes from, for it is an important part in the makeup of somebody as a person.

-The Tekoteko throwing down his tongue isn't so much a sign of disgrace but an allusion to the powhiri ceremonies that Tu's mihi is part of. The throwing down of the tongue represents a challenge to Tu to speak the language. Also the Tekoteko and the carvings rather than being irate are actually very understanding of Tu's loss of culture as shown in the lines "They understood/ The tekoteko and the ghosts/ Though i said nothing but/ Tihei Mauriora/ For that's all I knew". From this we can see that Taylor doesn't blame Tu for his loss of culture but rather the entire urbanisation process of Maori, but still maintains that the loss of culture is a negative thing and encourages Maori to regain their culture.