“One way to approach Sāmoan-Lebanese poet Schaeffer Lemalu’s (1983–2021) posthumous collection the prism and the rose and the late poems is via his attention to the visual. Lemalu was also a painter with a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts (and dearly loved within the Auckland art scene and beyond, according to those who knew him) who keenly explored the relationship between imagery and language, the interplay between painting and inspiration.”
Cover of Takahē Issue 113
“Even beyond the relationship between poet and reader, poetry is so often a conversation between poets. Poetry is talanoa. Talanoa is a pan-Pacific term for conversation or dialogue, in Pacific contexts often indicating the slow deliberations that might be reached gradually while sharing kava on a woven mat. Schaeffer Lemalu’s posthumous collection the prism and the rose and the late poems is a rich conversation.”
Read the full review of the prism and the rose and the late poems by Tulia Thompson in Takahē Issue 113.
