ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Moody is the author most recently of a collection of stories, Demonology, and a nonfiction book, The Black Veil. He writes:
‘In May 2003, I travelled to New Zealand for my honeymoon, first to Auckland, and then to Christchurch and environs. The trip was a life changer, for me, not only because of the incredible natural beauty of the islands, but also for the creative tension between European and Polynesian cultures that I found there. The high points of the journey included learning about rugby in general and the All Blacks in particular, seeing the Southern Alps, the coast of the Tasman Sea on the North Island, the countryside (everywhere, all the time), the islands in the harbour near Auckland, the call of the bird named the tui, and the Maori translation of the Lord’s Prayer (recited by Europeans and Maori alike at an Anglican church service I attended). The text of this prayer serves as the starting point and the chorus for my poem, which is a process-oriented assemblage, with only minor editorial jiggering, of several travel books on New Zealand, a book about Maori language and culture, and a few words of my own.’