I froze & Yangpela Marit – two new poems

Raymond Sigimet | Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG Attitude

Image from Megapixel.com
I Froze

It happened so quickly
that initial shock
and I am arrested by
          my helplessness
                    my failure to prevent

and I froze ...

I pitched a scream
I reached out
flailing, but in vain
          it happened so fast
                    I failed to prevent

and I froze ...

I cannot unsee now
a witness to life's tragedies
that I am no immortal
          I am as vulnerable
                    my failure to prevent

and I froze ...

as I saw a body struck
ran over by a truck
I did reach out
          flailing, but in vain
                    I failed to prevent


Image from WHO website
Yangpela Marit

Yangpela em laikim pasin marit
Em i hat tru long sindaunim em yet
Em wokabaut raun long de na long nait
Yangpela em gat tingting blong em yet

Taim papa toktok em les long harim
Em lusim haus na go painim boipren
Taim mama singaut em les long bekim
Em gat Tok Pisin long tokim gelpren

Yangpela em laikim pasin tambu
Em harim stori na em laik save
Em bihainim rot go long as mambu
Na rausim klos i go stap arere

Bihain papamama karim hevi
Taim yangpela i kamapim bebi

Published by Ples Singsing

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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