Poet, Kyra Gillies discusses topics on grief, environmental issues, what inspires her mahi

Born in Western Australia and raised in Otago, we got to sit down and talk to poet Kyra

Gillies who has been performing locally and around parts of New Zealand, including

Wanaka, Dunedin and at the open mic nights at NZ Spirit Fest while in Auckland. Kyra plans

to extend her performances to Raglan, Christchurch and Auckland as life unfolds.

Discussing topics on grief, environmental issues, what inspires her mahi along with

addressing social issues and the importance of cultural awareness. Kyra’s work will leave an

impact on your heart and her kōrero involves unique perspectives and extensive knowledge.

Having started writing poetry at the tender age of 5, "It's kind of something that came to me

naturally through improvisation and play, just kind of speaking and singing out loud with

whatever words and rhymes were coming to me. It was a way of expressing emotion and

experience, whether that's expressing joy, the love of life, nature, or frustration, rage, pain,

injustice. It was always and continues to be a helpful outlet, a way of processing things as

well as a way of connecting to people through shared experience, (even if it's not the same

experiences)."

With her first live performance at the age of 18 on the back of a truck at a Vogels street

party, to consistently showing up and performing open mic at the attic of her university

bookshop. Kyra’s involvement within the poetry scene over the years landed her an

awesome opportunity to perform at a poetry event she helped organise for an internationally

award winning performance poet live in Dunedin.

‘’I watched her performance, I was like, well, that's cool. And I was also like, I could do that.

I've got enough material, I might as well do a whole show. I've been performing for a couple

of years already. And so I registered for the Dunedin Fringe festival, in late 2016, and then

performed in 2017, which was probably the start of my second year of uni. That was called

p*ssed off, passionate and hopeful. I was pretty stoked with that.’’

Now at 25 years old Kyra is touring Aoteroa sharing her poetry, has self published books and

is currently working on her first album.

‘’So I sing as well as do poetry and rap, to me rap, spoken word with poetry and singing, are

quite interrelated. Singing and rapping is something I'm getting more confident about. I used

to not even be confident at calling myself a singer, but I've written probably more than 50

songs now. And the same with rap. As my poetry became more fast paced, as well as

listening to some really inspirational woman rappers, like Little Simz. The essence of the fire

of the verse has kind of pushed and inspired me to increase the pace of my own rhymes, to

the point where I can't really deny that I'm rapping. So in terms of genre and style, I’m quite

pleased with how it's grown and developed.’’

There is no denying that Kyra is a talented artist who has real determination and courage.

Whether it’s public speaking, poetry or song, Kyra really understands the importance of

being courageous to speak up and share within times of change. In the past Kyra has been

involved in working around the issues of sexual violence and suicide prevention. Although

recently has taken a step back to primarily focus on her art.

‘’When I've performed at different community events, I've prioritised what's going on in that

moment, to be responsive in that moment, and to speak openly and honestly, with love and

with a sense of what's needed to change in order to hopefully stop people from dying or

continuing to be hurt. I know that when I have spoken honestly as part of speaking, as well

as poetry and song, it's made a difference to people and it's not in a way that can be

numerically quantified, but when a stranger comes up to you and thanks you or is crying, it

must have moved them, I wouldn't do it if I feel it isn’t important. I get scared. And I've

walked out of gigs and cancelled at the last minute in the past. But for me, when I have

clarity of heart and mind and what's important in terms of how I'm being impacted by things,

or other people are being impacted by things to do with violence towards people or the

environment, which ultimately is violence towards people's health as well. It's like, finding a

way to be courageous, even when you are, scared or upset.’’

Kyra’s courage and care is reflective within her poetry, ranging from sobriety, cultural

awareness, the impacts humans have on each other and the earth as well as the notion of

really honouring people. Kyra’s work and all she has to offer really is limitless.

‘’Over the last couple years, I have had some pretty intense experiences, especially around

loss, and I've been quite interested in how the first hand experience of loss can literally

shatter your brain. But when your brain gets shattered by loss, it can also trigger intense

creativity. So I've had a really prolific period of writing lots of songs and poems, back to back,

it comes pretty thick and fast. So it's a lot to keep up with. I think grief and loss can force you

to really reflect on your priorities, and so, for me, a lot of things became about honouring

people. And not just honouring people who've died, but honouring people while they're still

here. And honouring ourselves, life is precious. So, I think creativity and art are probably one

of the most heartfelt ways you can honour life and people who've passed as well.

The creative process reflects differently for each individual artist and to hear of what inspires

Kyra and the knowledge she has around certain environmental issues has shined a light on

things that many people may be unaware of.

‘’My father is from the US and so I visited Hawai’i when I was 15. So ever since then, seeing

how many military bases there were in Hawaii, I've kind of always kept tabs on it from a

peace and environmental activist perspective of what the local movements are doing.

Learning from that and writing about it as a way of sharing support and consciousness in the

areas that I'm in because when I talk to different people, and when I perform at different

events a lot of people just haven't heard of what's going on. That’s why I think grassroots

media and independent media is so important.’’ Referring to Peace in Pacific / Demilitarise

Hawai’i Kyra suggests that you can follow and support Koa Futures on instagram, an activist

coalition around this kaupapa if you wish to find out more.

Being environmentally and culturally aware, Kyra mentions how her Irish Celtic heritage,

connection to Hawaii and learning more Te Reo Māori has influenced her poetry to become

more multilingual.

‘’I can see the real resonance of holistic worldviews in respect for the environment and

knowing that we are part of nature, not superior to all of it. And that sort of the animism

within Te Reo Māori as well as within pre-colonial Celtic traditions there's a lot of resonance

and overlap. I just find that the more that I engage and take action, the more that those

views and values make sense, and ways that at times English can fall really short. I'm quite

grateful to learn those things, it just resonates. And so the more concepts and vocabulary

and things I have to work with, my poems have been becoming more multilingual and it's in

service of all that as a way of continuing to have those values come through. So I think I've

put in a bit of Spanish into one and a bit of Hawaiian into another and I started to work with a

little bit of funky vocabulary from what I've been learning of Romani, which is in my

whakapapa it's awesome to have that to draw from and not in the spirit of taking, but in the

spirit of honouring.

Informing people through the power of art and expressing oneself through poetry is a part of

what creates colour within this world. Although Kyra’s work includes aspects of

environmental, social and cultural issues, she also gains a lot of inspiration from the rhythm

of everyday life.

‘’A lot of the time, my writing is written while walking on the beach, it's a little memory, a little

celebration of a really nice moment. And I'll usually remember exactly which beach because,

the natural rhythm that we have as our heartbeat, is also the Earth’s heartbeat. And that is

the rhythm of us walking. We are naturally rhythmic creatures, so when I learned that, it

made sense. We have this legacy as human beings that we have ways of keeping ourselves

going through song, and movement. There is a connection between movement and creation.

When you walk you get a beat or groove going. I've noticed that when I walk, I also get

reminded of things or I start to have new ideas and the movement is kind of the momentum

that is spearing that on.’’

Within our kōrero with Kyra she shared poems, knowledge and vulnerability that was

admirable and courageous. We are excited to see what the future holds for this artist and to

witness her perform live.

If you’d like to read more of Kyra’s work visit https://kyragillies.wordpress.com/ or read you

can read her latest poem and interview in the latest issue of Vegan Magazine NZ. You can

buy Kyra’s books/support her work by direct messaging Kyra @kyraspeaks