Excerpt:
The oldies say that one day the good Shepard will return and free us of our suffering, maybe then we will no longer choke on the obligation we attach to love
Free to breathe unburdened, our parents will live long enough to become comfortable saying they are 'happily retired'
Thought:
One life and I think I've witnessed at least 1000 of my own funerals, 5 in the last year of people I love. Kind people with big shoes that can not be filled, so instead we appreciate how they carried their weight. Use our words to bring them into the present. The only constant is change, how you do it decides where you end up, if you're present you'll figure out where to channel it all.
Just keep your mind where your feet are and your body will do the rest.
🍃Special poetry pull towards the end 🍂
It’s been a busy week for the Four Shells Team!
A massive mālō to @soakaiser and @lu_ani02 for holding our Open Mic session on Wednesday! Thank you @rpworley for joining us and sharing your gift of words.
And thank you to everyone who made it out!
Also, behind the scenes we’ve been doing mahi with regards to kava standards etc.
Four Shells is more than just a shop, we love to be able to create spaces for all people to come together, and at the same time preserve the cultural practise of kava that is sacred to our Pacific heritage.
All in all a great week doing what we love 👌🏾
Enjoy the long weekend!
❇️FLOETRY ROUND 2 - Poetry X Freestyle movement
This round hit and felt different- it just felt like we tapped into something far deeper - the joy in our face at the end captured it all - the thrill of being at the edge of something - not in control but not in chaos either - i don’t know how to explain but it was such a cool experience
Thanks for the footage @rani_gounder@mumta.gounder 🙌🏽
❇️FLOETRY ROUND 1
Such a fun event - and loved trying to move to what @soakaiser
EVERYTHING WAS IN THE MOMENT - no rehearsal - all off the top - super fun
❇️FLOETRY Winners🏆
Massive shoutout to the uso @soakaiser for the voibess tonight so grateful to have jammed with you bro fr!!
Thank you @theprojektteam for the voibess tonight and bringing this amazing idea to life
Fa’afetai tele lava to the judges 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
🧢: @ragpound_official
👕: @bigr4ww_
Szn change, people change, crops die when you don't give them attention. No one is free until we are all free. Move from a place of love bc that is endless.
Even if it's the ugliest W, it's W szn bby 🤪💙🌊
I'm so mad at you. This isn't the first time, maybe it won't be the last, but after 7 years of therapy (you being one of the main topics 🤪) I'm so mad we won't be able to continue to get closer and further develop our Father-Son bond. We were cracking a new level of closeness which was partially facilitated by kava and partially by maturity over time. To admire, resent, and respect you... sometimes all at the same time 🤣🤣🤣 words still fail to articulate my grief, and maybe they will until one day when it won't.
What I do know is you modelled what healthy expression of loss looks like, with how you've comemerated the passing of your own mother (R.I.P Nena Neiafu) and brother (R.I.P Uncle Amanaki). Openly letting tears flow regardless of how others might percieve you. Letting people know how you actually feel, not just trying to bottle it up. You were a man ahead of your time, and now you so generously are letting time catch up to the way your eyes saw the land.
I am so glad we got this summer together, to fish, fai kava, watch t.v and discuss the depths of life. I'll make sure to mix with Joe and 'Okusi and keep learning my fangufangu or as you liked to call it a Tongan Recorder hhhh from them.
While I am so deeply sad you're gone, I'm glad I got to tell you I love you. Hug you the day you passed, and hold your hand before you went into the operating theatre. I am sorry I didn't quite appeeciate the shade you provided for me in this world at times, but I promise, like we talked about the physical, and spirtual inheritance you have provided for me and my siblings willl long be honoured and treasured. Thank you for seeds you gave me, may they flourish into a bounty worthy of your name and your create Jesus Christ 💙
I love you dad,
Rest In Peace Matafonua Fotu Soakai 🕊️🤍
Who else is looking forward to @soakaiser ’s poetry workshop at 6.30 tonight?
Eric ran a workshop for us at The Gaza Diaogues in June and held us so safely, opening a space for expression in all its forms
"...we don't speak, we sound." - Tau'ili'ili
🥥 Eric Soakai @soakaiser on Tau'ili'ili's @alphathinktank lesson on fagufagu in Tiapapata:
How honoured am I
a High Chief
would awaken my soul. From
the deep ocean, where potentiality
dances with formlessness and longo.
How honoured am I
a taulealea,
to sit in his circle
hear how he pulls our islands together
with a rope made of sound
connects islands bridges the shape of instruments.
Tau'ili'ili I am forever grateful to have heard you
play the fangufangu made from the kofi of Tonga
on the fanua, in a fale Sāmoa.
How my Tongan blood weeps mafana
How my Sāmoan blood dances mafana
You teach me humility in our talalasi
in the different colours I feel whole.
#fafagumeasina2024 #talajar
Hidden Chance Booster Activation:
Bonus checkpoint reached.
Can you call the land out of vahanoa without a hook?
I am another hōha'a who wishes to mix.
How do you seperate the blood, from the ink and land?
Fonua, Fanua, Whenua
Fire orients potential,
Action preceding articulating
The first star is both a family member and a guide
Mix until the fire catches.
Spreads
Ahead of time
Corrupted recap bc I lost my phone before photo dumping from last checkpoint.
Found the entrance to the path well trodden in another lifetime, trying to follow it now
