Love gone bad, new love, the Māori way of life, and a Pakeha book about life on the marae: Talia Marshall makes the connections. February – Kua Mutu Funny, after such a bright start, how despondent and lonely our love had become, but we tried to repair things by going on a holiday late in … Read more
Talia Marshall reviews what is likely the year’s most entertaining, readable, and popular New Zealand novel, Daylight Second by Kelly Ana Morey. I remember the Phar Lap skeleton at the old Dominion Museum off Buckle St in Wellington. He was in a glass case just after the Victorian settlers listless in their life-sized dioramas, and … Read more
All week we’ve revisited the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful 1984 incident when six women abducted an Auckland university lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, and labelled him a rapist. We conclude the series with a personal essay by Talia Marshall. A while ago Steve Braunias at The Spinoff emailed … Read more
An essay by Talia Marshall, taken from her readings of two books published by Bridget Williams – the award-winning Tangata Whenua, and the condensed version, The First Migration: Māori Origins 3000BC-AD1450. 800 years ago, give or take a century, Kupe chased the giant octopus Te Wheke o Muturangi across the vast Pacific ocean away from Hawaiki … Read more
New verse by Riwaka writer Talia Marshall. My thoughts on the end of love and caravans this Friday At first love is the caravan and you are inside it playing cards and the gas lamp is burning and everyone inside the caravan is happy and unbearable Then you only go … Read more
A select committee review into assisted dying is coming up, and all signs point to a foregone conclusion. Former caregiver Talia Marshall recalls her time working in a rest home, where the debate has a very different meaning. I remember trying to a watch a VHS copy of Anne of Green Gables with my grandparents in my grandads … Read more
A personal essay by Talia Marshall (Rangitane ki Wairau, Ngati Kuia) in response to Ngati Dread by Angus Gillies, a journalist who investigated the killings, arsons, and various assorted apocalyptic madness during the Rasta reign of terror in Ruatoria: “A book about stoners you should never read stoned.” Ruatōria. Ruatōrea, a place or an idea, a Valhalla … Read more
Don’t biff it and don’t burn me either I was thinking About how French women In the magazines Obey the law of decades When it comes to their hair Ascending the matron ladder And shutting their witch down With knee length hems. I said I’ve gone normal With the tree this year son Lies! I … Read more