Tomorrowland again - 3

[Images: experiment with using the mobile blogger app with photos sent to me on WhatsApp. I think these show Prunus 'Shirotae'. They were taken in Herne Bay, Kent 14/4/16.] 

When Lisa Samuel was in the throes of emigrating from California to New Zealand, "tomorrowland" was her nickname for a destination where the date was already tomorrow. 

"Tā moko", the tattooed facial designs of Maori culture, turn up in the poem as the woman "with blueprints on her face" (ATBMOV, p. 75) and as "our blue-stained faces" (TBC, p. 91). Less certainly, "the family carved its ink along its flesh to remember" (S, p. 30); "Then Eula took to etching ink into the hide as well" (NOM, p. 41).


Crux, see also crocks (TBC p. 90).

Traduced upon the southern cross
Whose shining pistels meet apart  (ATBMOV p 83)

Birds and feathers. passim. ATBMOV pp. 74-75.


Implements:

Important are both the umbrella and the parasol (TBC, p. 90).

Also the shovel. (ATBMOV, pp. 80-81)

The adze. (e.g. ATBMOV, p. 82 "The world collects itself for you / an adze and scarf waft"). Ancient tool. There survive prehistoric Maori adzes that were used for woodcarving. "The pounding of the adze" (TBC, p. 89)  (unexpected use of an adze).


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Useful email interview with LS from 2013 by fellow NZ poet/academic Jack Ross:

http://jackrossopinions.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/an-interview-with-lisa-samuels-2014.html