Michael Dom (Tok Pisin translation)
Kompas bilong makim rot emi hangamap
Long pinga bilong han ibin brukim banis
Em han bilong tewel mi iet haitim istap
Tewel save soim tit long mi long driman
Klaut tutak bilong em mekim sikin i kol
Taim mi sanap long dua na galasim em
Kompas emi hangamap klostu tru long han
Wanpela lek tasol, bai popoaia long en
Wanpela lek tasol, mi holim passim em
Mi no inap stret long sakim laik bilong em
Dispela tewel paulim ai taim mi lukluk
Mi ino save bai mi laikim o nogat
Mi no inap long abrusim klaut bilong em
Kompas i hangamap long han bilong mi iet
My moral compass swings
On the freed finger tips
Of the monster I hide
The smiling fiend who haunts my dreams
Whose cold silhouette passes me
By the doorway in the mirror
It swings there just at arm’s length
One step away from horror
One move and I embrace it
I cannot subvert
This weird reflection
To love or hate it
Like a shadow that I cannot outrun
The compass on my own extended arm
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Ples Singsing is envisioned to be a new platform for Papua Niuginian expressions of creativity, ingenuity and originality in art and culture. We deliberately highlight these two very broad themes as they can encompass the diverse subjects, from technology, medicine and architecture to linguistics, music, fishing, gardening et cetera. Papua Niuginian ways of thinking, living, believing, communicating, dying and so on can cover the gamut of academic, journalistic or opinionated writing and we believe that unless we give ourselves a platform to talk about and discuss these things in an open, free and non-exclusively academic space that they may remain the fodder for academics, journalists and other types of writers alone. New social media platforms have given every individual a personal space to share their feelings and ideas openly, sometimes without immediate censure. The Ples Singsing writer’s blog would like to provide another more structured platform for Papua Niuginian expressions in written, visual and audio formats while also providing some regulation of the type and content of materials to be shared publicly.
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