WATCH: Tayi Tibble reads her poem, “My Ancestors Ride Wit Me”

Poet Tayi Tibble’s unique perspective, firmly rooted in her identity as a 28-year-old urban indigenous New Zealander, has led to widespread acclaim. Tibble draws on the spiritual guidance of her Polynesian ancestors throughout “Rangikura,” her second poetry collection. She read one such poem “My Ancestors Ride Wit Me” for the PBS NewsHour ahead of the last stop of her North American book tour.

She says her matriarchal ancestors in particular are important to her, “the more I pay veneration and respect to them like, the more they're helping me along and forward like, they keep opening doorways, and new paths for me.”

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