The Maori Jesus: Structure and language

Stanza one: -walks on water, what he looks like, appeals to ordinary person with funny links to farting and getting drunk.

Stanza two: - chooses disciples.  They are rough and unrespectable, and the language emphasises the tough life they have, eg. getting shit out of pores.  Final two lines damn the 'respectable parish.'

Stanza three: - Use of dialogue - The Maori Jesus brings hope and sunshine to a corrupt world.

Stanza four: - Emphasises The Maori Jesus' simple life.  He merely sat on the ground playing the guitar.

Stanza five: - Using the structure of the seven days in which God created the world, Baxter details the terrible and inhumane acts the institutions of society, especially the police and mental health professionals did to the Maori Jesus.  The language slows right down on the last line via single syllable words, to emphasise the gravity of the action of cutting God's brain in half.

Stanza six: - Use of more formal, religious language in this section, emphasising the gravity of the soulless, inhumane actions of society and how this continues.