Rānui Taiapa
A Journey through Time in 5 Digits
5. Pinky
We grew up in bowls
a bowl of weetbix
a BMX track, cambered inwards
a cupped hand – kiwisport cricket ball – ouch
Curtis St valley
Te Whanganui ā Tara
We’re at the centre of an ampitheatre
All eyes on
And then
I discover the world is round
But not in that way
4. Rangitukia Station
A Mare
sleepy, hips rolling left, right, her sweat and ours mingle
me and Lu, the mātaamua and the pōtiki,
riding barefoot, bareback on Belle
back to the homestead, pipis and blackberries for tea
Flip!
Sideways we slip
Lu’s fingers still interlocked around my waist
As we hit the greywacke road
Our cousin crrraaacks up at the city slickers riding the ground
It’s summer. My fists close around her
mane and we get
back on
A Huntaway
thunders through the gate
Uncle Albert Red Bands it after him
By Curry!
it’s A Dog’s Show, but PG-13
a piece of mānuka from the woodpile
converges
with uncle’s hand and zaps through the air towards Niho… a miss!
…who tucks his head down and high tails it under the house
cumere ya mongrel!
…as mānuka smashes the ute’s headlight
a hit!
A Sheep
In the woolshed
Uncle grabs a ewe and before we know it
he’s drawn a knife across its neck
It kicks out and slows
The blood gurgles
bubbles
flows
rasps
BANG!
Hira’s fainted on the floor of the stall
he was always the gentle one
‘Shall I call your mum?’ Uncle asks me ‘Nah. She’ll just worry.’
We slurp on boiled mutton neck chops for tea
and toast sliced white bread
with a blanket of butter
of course
Hira gets a duvet
Kids
five of us
hungry as
a sweaty horse
tight as
a dog with a bone
happy as
flies on sheep brains
3. Franz Josef Glacier
Ice splinters Rock
Rock bruises Flesh
Flesh melts Ice
but you think twice
about this
as you reach out to touch the pale
pale blue face of
Hinehukatere
2. Did you mean?
I type ‘I mate i te ata tonu’
Microsoft responds
I mate it eat a ton. U?
I submit ‘Glocalising’
The editor responds
We assumed you meant globalising
I type ‘Indigenizing the Academy’
LCONZ (powered by Google) responds
Did you mean ‘Antagonizing the Academy’?
Scritti scriblitti traducerais incredulosity
Can I have the language of origin?
Kia ora. Kia kaha. Kia manawanui.
Mean Māori Mean.
1. Damage
In Tianjin
I can hold the sun between my thumb and forefinger
and examine it with
naked eyes
In Te Ika a Māui
I daren’t
In this part of the world
Tama Nui te Rā and us
have history
