He Aha Te Mea Nui? What Matters Most?
The Children’s Commissioner asked children across the motu this question and used their responses to compile a beautiful collection of their poetry and art in a book, with the support of Read NZ.
Paula Green (Poetry Box NZ) challenged students to write a poem that responds to the same question the book asks: He Aha Te Mea Nui? What Matters Most?
Some of our students wrote some brilliant poems. One of them has been published on the Poetry Box website.
Congratulations to Tyler R, for his poem 'What Matters Most'. Paula Green also picked Tyler to receive a copy of the book ‘He Aha Te Mea Nui? What Matters Most?’ which will be sent to us courtesy of Mana Mokopuna the NZ Children’s Commission.
What Matters Most?
mum’s eyes are blue
like the ocean
her hair is blonde
like my cat
dad’s eyes are green
like granny smith apples
his hands are soft
my brother’s fingernails
are like crocodile claws
he kicks the soccer ball hard
in the back yard
my sister wears a leather jacket
black as a tūī
she throws the netball
into the hoop
lying on the living room floor
watching Spiderman movies
on Tuesday nights
playing soccer with my siblings
on the weekend
these are my
favourite things
by Tyler R
