Christchurch audiences were treated to another enthralling performance by Tusiata Avia, at the launch her new collection of poetry, Bloodclot, one of the highlights of Christchurch’s Iva Pacific Arts Festival. After the resounding success of her first book Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (2004), Tusiata’s second collection will consolidate her status as a veritable “goddess of poetry”. Bloodclot is an allegorical recasting of Tusiata’s life through the Samoan goddess of war Nafanua, as she leaves the underworld to wander the earth in the form of an afakasi girl in Christchurch. Tusiata read from several of Bloodclot’s 50 poems to cap off another success for Pacific Underground, the principal organisers of this year’s Arts Festival. Dedicated to her daughter Sepela, Bloodclot is released today (20 February 09) from Victoria University Press.
