“Big Fat Brown Bitch”: Poet Tusiata Avia on rage and racism, death threats and bodyguards and what matters in life
Tusiata Avia: "If you care what others will say or think, the authenticity is ripped from your writing." Photo / Supplied
Tusiata Avia MNZM has published five books of poetry and created several successful stage shows, including Wild Dogs Under My Skirt. It had a two-week run off-Broadway, at Soho Playhouse in New York in 2020, winning the Fringe Encore Series prize for outstanding production. Her most recent poetry collection, Big Fat Brown Bitch, has just been published.
Your poem, The Savage Coloniser, caused a furore. What happened?
That poem was published a few years ago in The Savage Coloniser Book, the collection that won the 2021 Ockham Award for poetry. In February this year, I did an interview with Stuff about its adaptation as a play for the Auckland Arts Festival. The poem was printed with the article, which is how it came to the attention of [online radio channel The Platform’s] Sean Plunket and Act leader David Seymour ‒ the sorts of people who clearly don’t realise that a poem does many things and can contain symbols, metaphors and layering. Maybe some people only read the words on the page and don’t think further?
What was the reaction?
I was called a hate-fuelled racist who wanted to kill white men. Sean Plunket composed a poem to me, all in rhyming doggerel. He also encouraged his followers to complain to the Race Relations Commissioner and the Media Council. Some of the 300 complaints likened the poem to the Christchurch massacre and Act used it to do some race-baiting in the run-up to the election. A flood of hate mail followed, then a threat to my life.
How did you respond?
I worried for my 16-year-old daughter and 90-year-old mum because one threat came from a white supremacist here in Christchurch. The Auckland Arts Festival gave me two bodyguards who followed me around. My eventual reply was written in the language I speak best, which is poetry, and the whole first section of my new book, Big Fat Brown Bitch, is my response.
What did you anticipate when you wrote the poem?
Stylistically, I was experimenting with letting go – freeing myself from some of the more poet-y stuff and stripping things back. It was also a response to my being infuriated that Captain Cook is celebrated. During the 250th anniversary of Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific, I didn’t feel there was anything to celebrate, so I wrote a poem about what he did, how he died and how he brought that upon himself.
Rage is not always associated with eloquence, yet yours finds its outlet in poetry. How did your rage originate?