Poet bashed reciting 'Whangarei'

A Whangarei poet assaulted while reading a poem about the city's social problems is now urging the city to confront its violent streak.
Poet Peter Larsen said Whangarei had a culture of unprovoked violence, and lots of people were afraid of coming into town at night as a result.
He said: "I can speak in the voice of a poet to get my message across, whereas others are constricted by their social situation."
The wordsmith plans to display his poem which includes the line: "I picked up a 12-year-old hitchhiker proud to be in a gang, Whangarei - no wonder you're so f***** brutal" at the Old Library.
It will be displayed along with police and hospital records relating to the attack, and a map of Whangarei marked by red pins showing where assaults had taken place in the past year.
"What happened to me is just another red pin on the map of violence."'
Mr Larsen had been with friends outside Whangarei's Butter Factory Bar around midnight on January 16, when he decided to perform the poem, which included the phrase: "Whangarei hurry up and punch me in the face so we can be mates."
As he read it a group of eight 13-14 year old "hoodlums" started listening, he said.
"I was reading off the page and didn't notice who was around me.
"My head was pushed forward and a face approached me from my side and I started being punched." He was thrown to the ground but got back on his feet before being pummelled from multiple directions and falling a second time.
Mr Larsen said his associates were also mugged - a woman had her jacket stolen - before the group scrambled to safety in the bar.
"As I was being punched, I thought to myself, 'this kind of makes sense'.
"It was like art was reflecting reality and reality was reflecting art."
After the attack, Mr Larsen required hospital treatment for bruising and grazes. Police were called but he wasn't able to identify his attackers.
"It's an angry poem, but just because it's angry doesn't mean I deserve to be punched."
Constable Lindsay Weir of Whangarei police said he spoke to Mr Larsen the day after the alleged assault and it was his understanding that the poet had been attacked while leaving the Butter Factory Bar.
 Mr Larsen, a former Aucklander, said he came to Whangarei to reinvent himself.
He had been giving acting lessons to teenagers at the Old Library and holding drama and poetry classes at Dargaville and Tikipunga High Schools.
He is staying in a French painters' studio at the Quarry Arts Centre and performs around the country "spontaneously and to whoever will listen".
It was a tragedy to see Whangarei not taking care of its cultural treasures and not appreciating its cultural wealth, Mr Larsen said - or as he puts it in the poem: "Whangarei - your new police station and courthouse are monuments to shame."
Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff could not be reached for comment.

The poem can be accessed in full on the internet through the link on the  Northern Advocate's Facebook site.