“ This is indeed a great poem by the amazing Dr Karlo Mila. Her excellent use of the so-called qualitative epiphoric, associative metaphoric and constitutive metonymic heliaki, which all involve 'symbolically saying' one thing but 'really meaning' another, is well-taken and highly appreciated.
This is most evident in her critical investigation of the subject matter of climate change or feliuliuaki 'ae matangi mafana mo momoko moe malohi moe vaivaii as a global crisis amidst many others. It tells us that the performance art of poetry or faiva ta'anga / faiva maau is alive and well in the Moana (Oceania) / Pacific generally and Tonga specifically,.
Herein, the past is placed before us and the future behind us, both in the ever-changing, intersecting (or crossing) or connecting (or relating) and separating (or dividing) present, where both the past and the future are constantly yet mediated in the productive process, through sustained harmony and beauty, in original, creative and innovative. ways.
It justly reminds us that the Moana (Oceania) / Pacific is a space that both connects (or relates) and separates (or divides) or intersects (or crosses) and not just a place that connects (or relates), that is, a space of both life and death and not just a place of life, as in the popular lea heliaki or proverbial saying, "fe'ofa'aki 'a kakau" (love that swims back and forth [between islands / lands"]). ”