I WISH... CHRIS TSE

Our 13th poet laureate is a prophet hiding in a 40-year-old body. Chris Tse lures you in with book collection titles such as How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes then expands your thinking in as few syllables as possible, cracking open themes about racism, queer sexuality, homophobia, Chinese heritage, and pop culture. He started writing poetry as a teen in Lower Hutt, rebelling, as he jokes, “against his parents’ desire for him to do something sensible like calculus or accounting”. With poems such as Gentleman Poet in the Streets, Raging Homosexual in the Sheets he is changing what poetry is – and can do – in Aotearoa. His regular Friday poems are like a caffeine fix in the morning to readers, a rush to calm a crowded mind. Tse says, poetry is often a happy accident, “throwing a couple of unusual words together leading into unknown territory”. He doesn’t ever sit down and decide to write about x. Tse is an Honoured Writer at the Samesame but Different literary festival during Auckland Pride.

I WISH, 10 YEARS AGO, I’D KNOWN…

Ho wt o b epa tient and slow down. My friends comment on how busy I am, outside of m y day job, with all this poetry stuff. I dabbled in m usic, theatre, film-making, and poetry at university and settled on poetry as m yt hing, but for a fe wy ears after graduating Iw anted to keep going with all thos efo rms, which mean tIs aid ye st oalot of things. Iw as trying t og rab everything befor eit disappeared. I over-committed, no tt o the point of burnout but

I didn’t enjoy everything. Since turning 4 0I have learn tt o say no o r st ep a side and le ts omeone else enjo yt he spotlight.

I WISH, EVERY DAY I COULD EAT…

Kimchi stew. It bring st ogethe rt hings I love: ho ts oup yt hings and kimchi. But it is extremely hot s oif I at ei t every da yI ’d end u pa sweaty mess. I made the mistake of having it on a really hot humid evening in Auckland once. Big mistake.

I WISH I COULD LIVE IN…

A house wit h ki tchen drawers. I liv eina small cottage wit hm y partner, we’ve been here for more than fo ury ears and w elo v ei t. It’s just out of the ci ty w ith amazing views of the [Wellington] harbour but it’ st iny. I no ur kitchen, we’ve only got tw oc upboards and our cutlery is ino ur pantry in a tray. When w efi rst looked at it, we though tw e’d make do. But you mi sst hing sw hen you don’t have them. Eve ry t ime I look at houses onT rade Me and see kitchen drawers, that is my dream house.

THE PERSON I WISH WAS ON A BANKNOTE IS… Guy Ngan. Lately,

I’ve been learning mor ea bout his life and art and have been inspired by his accomplishments as a Chinese-New Zealand artist. One of hi ss culptures ha sb een on an exterio rw all of the Reserve Bank since 19 72s oi tw ouldn’t be t oo m u chofa stretch for him to b eona banknote.

THE NOISE I WISH I COULD NEVER HEAR AGAIN IS…

People talking a tt he cinema. On the rare occasion tha tI do go, i t st ill amazes me that people feel free t oha v ef ull conversations or answe rt heir phones. I don’t get it . Wh y? I am conflict-averse so I don’t like to be the person who shushe st hem in the dark but I can’ tb elieve w e ha ve to have reminders a tt he start of the film. It s hould b e an unspoken rule.

I WISH I COULD SPEND A SUNDAY WITH…

My PoPo(婆婆),m y mum’s mum. She pass eda way 1 0y ears ago. Grandparents are really important in Chinese families, with the whole intergenerational household, we had my Po Po live with us. Is pen tt he mo stt ime wit hhe r, cooking, taking her o uts hopping on Sundays ,o rto the doctor if she needed to. We had a lot off un and used to play mahjong. She wa sv ery good, quietl ys neaky. My brother and I could speak Cantonese so w eco uld have conversation sw it hhe r. That’ sw h yw e were the ones who were called up to take her out or fix her TV– I’d get phone calls at 9pm and have t oj ump in the car and head o utt o Pe tone. At t he time it felt like an imposition but Iw ish I could do that again. No wI ’m olde ry o ur ealise thes ea re the onl yt ime sy ou ge tw ith your grandparents.

I WISH NEW ZEALAND WAS MORE…

Open to celebrating t he a rts, like sports. It feels like it’s pushed in one particular direction and I guess it’s part of our DNA but t he a rts ar eapa rt of e veryone’s DNA too. I am bias ed o bviously but ifa rts had the same level of visibility a ss port on the daily news, It hink New Zealande rs w ould b e mo re open and awar e of how much New Zealand-creat ed a rt and writing is o ut t her e.Wea r ep roducing some of the be stw ork in the world but it doesn’t need t o ge t international attention or acclaim to be considered good enough. Iw ould love people to read a New Zealand poem as part of their day-to-day lives. It doesn’ tt ake much to read a poem a day. It’s pre tty s hort. The benefits of reading poetry are s og reat ,i t can ground you and open your mind up t o ne ww ays of thinking and possibilities and who wouldn’ tw an tt o sta rt t he day thinking about possibilities? It doesn’t have to be sport or art ,i t can be both.

I WISH I COULD SWAP LIVES WITH… OPTIMUS PRIME. I’M STILL A KID AT HEART AND I LOVE A LOT OF THINGS THAT I LOVED AS A KID, SUCH AS TRANSFORMERS AND X-MEN. OPTIMUS PRIME IS THE GREATEST LEADER IN THE WORLD WHO HAS MORALS AND VALUES I STRIVE TO LIVE BY, AND THEY’RE A ROBOT.

Chris Tse in conversation with Michael Giacon, Ellen Melville Centre, February 25. For more information visit aucklandpride.org.nz