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| Literature students at the Waigani Campus of the University of Papua New Guinea with their first copy of Drusilla Modjeska's novel, The Mountain. |
The
first was the arrival, at long last, of Drusilla Modjeska’s novel, The Mountain. The second was a
collection of poems by Michael Dom, entitled At another Crossroads, compiled as a manuscript and sent to
storyboard for review.
Two
lovely pieces of work, quite timely and represent all that we would want to
know about our country through fiction and poetry.
Storyboard
readers may recall a brief review of Modjeska’s The Mountain, in an article entitled The Literary Marvels of Tufi. In that article we have proclaimed
the arrival of work exemplifying those done on Papua New Guinea by authors who
love visiting the country and who look at our activities, literary or
otherwise, with special regard. There are the Trevor Shearstons, the Phil
Fitzpatricks and the Keith Jacksons, to name a few. And now Drusilla Modjeska.
Modjeska’s
novel starts at the outskirts of Port Moresby, in an isolated area of sparsely
distributed savannah vegetation and swamp which will later become known as the
Waigani Campus of the University of Papua New Guinea.
The
people who start settling in at that area consist of a remarkable collection of
academics, young and old, and recruited from the finest schools in Europe and
America. They are there curiously to establish a new university which many
colonial old timers of the time describe as a “boi’s school.” It is this curiosity
that drives a young couple Rika and Leonard to travel all the way from Oxford
just to become part of that excitement of the 60s and 70s.
The
result is a sweeping story that starts in Port Moresby, moves on to the
mountain, which we understand now as Mt Lamington in the Oro Province.
Thenceforth, the characters move back and forth in their academic preoccupation
of research and study of the area, and then move south east, to the Tufi area,
because two of the novel’s prominent characters come from there. There is much
excitement involved and as we read our way into the core of the novel we
discover a lot of things about Papua New Guinea that are at once enlightening
and memorable.
The
radical activities of the student politicians of the day, the intermingling of
characters consisting of members of staff and their students, the type of
discoveries dug up in the fields of anthropology and archaeology, and the
emergence of a new literary culture –
these are well represented in the novel.
Somewhere
in this beautiful novel we come across radical students in the likes of Milton
the playwright, scoffing critic of the atmosphere that surrounds him, snorting adviser
to budding politicians who will later hone, shape and mould Papua New Guinea
into nationhood. But these Papua New Guinean characters often find home in the
company of women like Martha, Rika and men like Don and Leonard, the brilliant
visual anthropologist.
Together
they shape and form the beginnings of the country’s move towards political
independence from Australia. And together they live a sort of life that many
will forget except this young man called Jericho, who returns from Oxford one
day, to retrace through books the footsteps of those who have gone before him.
And what Jericho discovers about the mountain and Papua New Guinea is truly
amazing.
A
regular visitor to Papua New Guinea, Drusilla Modjeska drops by at UPNG now and
then to share thoughts on literature and writing with students and staff there.
Her advice to the young generation of aspiring writers: “A young writer – any
writer – needs courage, and also patience. Courage to write from the heart,
patience to return to draft after draft.”
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| Michael Dom |
From
the Estate of Icarus storyboard is pleased to announce the arrival of Michael
Dom’s At another Crossroads. This is
an exciting collection of poetry that Dom has been working on for some time and
now feels that it is ready for publication. A good number of these poems have
previously appeared in the National newspaper’s Weekender supplement. These
were well-received, making Michael Dom an interesting social and political
commentator through poetry.
Storyboard
first became aware of Dom’s poetry through the Crocodile Literary competition,
an initiative of the competition organizers in Australia and the Post Courier. Dom
is a strong supporter of the Crocodile literary workshops and competitions and
his contributions to the last workshop held at the Australian High Commission
on 15th September 2011 were invaluable. Since then he has not given
up the pen and the result is this fine collection of poetry whose themes range
from social criticism to environmental concerns and individual thoughts and
aspirations and further into the arena of poetics (meaning creative writing
observed as a tool for social and political commentary).
In
all, At another Crossroads is a
lovely collection and storyboard looks forward to the day when all this poetry
is published as a book. Here is one such poem followed by a commentary by the
poet himself.
A
dinghy ride by starlight
There is an echo even
now. Awakening
From haunted dreams,
late in the night
A memory of a dinghy
ride by starlight:
The noise of the motor
reverberating
Off the coast, above
the rushing waves,
Cold and damp from sea
spray and rain:
Phosphorescent glittering
streams in
Our passing wake arise
from unknown
Depths as we skim their
salty matrix:
Dark ragged hills like
a rip in the fabric
Of a jet black sky and
the ghostly white
Foam of the relentless
Solomon Sea:
A shoreline strewn with
the debris of
That unending war: A
warning to steer
Clear off, but to keep
a parallel course:
Speak not of crows for
I have seen them
In a mist shrouded
morning at Rabaraba
Where they held their
nodding congress
And Champion’s surprise
at finding me
There upon his arrival
was worth a
Hundred voyages into
the Anuki Country
Michael Dom
Bubia Station, 04:31AM
21/01/2012
Champion Ando was the name of my traveling partner, whom I was supposed to meet at Alotau. When I arrived there around ten o' clock he had already left early in the morning. I took a bus from Masurina Lodge, went down to town, asked the locals there for a highway truck, got on and made my way around the coast to a dinghy place on the north coast, Awaiama. That's where my dinghy ride began.
Until that time I had never been to Milne Bay in my life. Champion had no idea where I was, and everyone else thought that I was still in Port Moresby.
You can imagine his surprise when he comes to shore at Rabaraba at six o' clock the next morning, to be greeted by myself, standing on the shore, waving to him. He thought for sure I was a ghost (or bewitched). He had some difficulty speaking for a little bit, when I asked him what had taken him so long to get there. It will make a good short story some day.
Michael
