This poem is called a Sad Joke on a Marae. it is about a guy named Tu that doesn't know anything about his culture. he grew up with both his parents not speaking anything but English and he never got told anything about his culture which made him very lost, angry, annoyed, confused and ashamed. There is a Maori carving called Tekoteko lots of people believe in the story but most do not. The Tekoteko ripped out his tongue and threw it onto the ground. He believes why he ripped out his tongue because he was angry about the fact he couldn't speak Maori and he didn't know anything about his culture. The tongue is symbolic with the fact he can't speak Maori. You need a tongue to speak and Tu can't use his tongue for what he wants to say. The poem tells us Tu doesnt know any of his Whakapapa or his pepeha. he drinks and fights and gets into a lot of trouble with the police. The poem never really tells us why Tu doesn't know anything about his pepeha, whakapapa, or culture but my prediction is that Tu wasn't allowed to speak Maori or he didn't grow up with people who could speak
