Center for Pacific Island Studies

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Steven Winduo is a Papua New Guinea poet and scholar who teaches at the University of Papua New Guinea. Here he talks about and reads the title poem from his first poetry collection, Lomo'ha I Am, in Spirit's Voice I Call (1991). (5 minutes)

Lomo’ha I am,
in Spirits’ Voice I Call

Lomo’ha ne walihowi wa
Lomo’ha konglu ye
Nuwo Lomo’ha ne.

I have traveled in those lands
Beyond doors of sacred tombs
Only in the stories of our fore fathers
Did you weep over my dead name when I left
To that unseen waliwuiya

Upon my return after years of wandering
Below the horizon of the sea
And between skies of the waliwuiya
I see nothing
But myself among the wild trees
In the wilderness of this jungle
I learned about each mark carved on trees
By unknown hands which spoke to me

Lomo’ha! Lomo’ha!
Yenefa waliwuiya
Yenefa waliwuiya
Na whame?

I call: waiting men do you hear me
I am speaking in this strange language
Lomo’ha ne walihowi ne wa
Lomo’ha I am, in spirits’ voice I call

I have returned from death
Do you remember me my people
Lomo’ha ne walihowi wa
Hear this living voice cry before I am lost
See these things that I have brought
And do not judge my spirits’ voice for my spirit

Lomo’ha ne walihowi wa
Lomo’ha konglu ye
Nuwo Lomo’ha ne

Steven Winduo