Books praised for their ‘illumination of life’

POET Michael Dom’s two latest books are being praised for their illumination of life in Papua New Guinea and as a “treasure chest of a special type of poetry”.
The books, Dried grass over rough cut logs which was published by Francis Nii and 26 Sonnets: Contemporary Papua New Guinean poetry by JDT Publications were launched this month.
Dom said the sonnet collection spanned 15 years and the form was easy to describe but difficult to master.
He won the coveted crocodile prize in 2012, for his poem, Sonnet 3: I met a pig farmer the other day, which was included in this collection.
About Dried Grass over Rough Cut Logs, which featured all new poetry by Dom, he said the title of the book referred to the Tok Pisin term for bush materials, which had a wider meaning encapsulating Papua New Guinea and essentially its people and the home.
“I don’t think of publishing these books in terms of importance, for me, it is a necessity – to gather these poems and publish them,” Dom said.
“The important thing is to express our culture in literature.”
Veteran writer Prof Steven Winduo described Dom as a poet who had come of age.
“He has the ability to pick up the ordinary and mundane, and project it onto a page and make us see what we are unable to see on our own,” Winduo said.
“He shows us a different world-view to the one we have been living and breathing our whole life.
“He is quickly securing his place among the great poets of this nation.”
Pioneering Pacific poet Prof Konai Thaman said of ‘26 Sonnets’: “This collection tells me more about PNG than most of the reference books.”