Wild And Crazy Peace In Papua New Guinea Poem by Kimberly Burnham

Alamblak a language from East Sepik
Papua New Guinea has a wordfor peace
"duka mmokfot" two words really
with six meanings
including "peace"
forget.and hope
which seems an odd combination
lack of worry
think crazy
and think mistakenly

And since "duka" is think
"duka marnyewur"
he thinks clearly.
"duka nriyafkfot"
think clearly with understanding

similarly "rhu mmokfot" is peaceful or
to live with peace of mind
and lack of stress and concerns
but look farther still

"hti mmokfot" is to see
without realizing what is going on
or "wany mmokfot"
to listen without comprehending
"kfo hammokfot"
to speak causing confusion
"frhammokfot"
to move something towards the wrong direction
and "mmokfot" on its own is foolish
crazy and wild

It starts to seem like the meaning
of peace
is think foolishly
but why would that be
is it because we can't take ourselves too seriously
and have peace
a joke diffuses a tense situation
we can't laugh and take it too personally
if someone says we are crazy
we have to try to see what is going on
and listen and say what we mean
and help people go in the right direction
and perhaps then we will have "duka mmokfot"
peace