Time 4
         A
                      Triptych

Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa poets Karlo Mila, Kahi Brooks and Richard Hamasaki swam into a blank page and wove a waka^[01] 01. If you'd like to understand an interpretation of the te Reo words used in this piece I encourage you to go to resources such as www.maoridictionary.co.nz/ of words which they sailed out beyond the reef and edge of books.  They paddled past libraries and universities and folded pages and listened to the wairua of the night. They drew stars and held each wave close, curling up to the lip of memory and imagination. They closed their eyes and breathed in every new poem. They used reels to haul up fresh words hooked at the end of a line. Once their kete was full, whales sang their way back to the shore. 

When they returned, they lit a small fire which burned and crackled in the sand. Driftwood once still, then gently collapsing in sometimes-blue flames, pulled them in closer. They sat and shared kaimoana and laughed about the times they had written from their belly and got to the heart of the matter. They saw the blacks and browns of their eyes and the white moon in the centre.  Their cheeks shone with salt.  Their kōrero slowly turned quiet in the more-dark. They dreamed, they remembered, they shared. They lost track of time.  Or did time lose track of them?

Daylight split the horizon and with the rising sun came an ancient wind which leaned in to hongi each of them. The wise wind had travelled many stories and seas, and blown across many tides to finally meet them. They remembered themselves, their ancestors and the children who were yet to be born. 

Breathing in the breeze of another time brought them home.

I want to get my dreams back

Anything can mean anything to me

Dreams are very much the act of listening

1.  I am gliding.  It is dark and light at the same time. It is from a time before and it is a time to come.  At once it is the evening then, the sky is blush pink and my body fly-runs above a corridor of majestic eucalypt trees.  When my feet touch the earth, I am weightless. I prefer the sensation of flying, so I decide to take flight again.  People see me flying and don’t bat an eyelid.  I am neither here nor there yet I feel more myself than I ever have.

2. There are 12 whare in a circle with one main larger structure in the middle. They are all made of the most beautiful wood. The location is the Hokianga.  Friends, travellers, musicians and visitors stay in the 12 buildings.  The centre structure has a bar and kitchen downstairs with a ladder set of stairs you climb up to get to an area where performances happen. The place is packed.  Music is playing.  The floorboards are throbbing with love and energy. 

3. I am handwashing clothes in a freezing cold awa.  My hands can barely do the mahi because of how cold the water is.  I breathe out and see the exhale of air in front of me.  I am at the bottom of a very steep hill.  I look up and see a shack with a dim light on.  Inside I see a man who I do not recognise.  I am scared but determined.  He does not know the whenua like I do.

In her brilliant book False Divides (2018), Lana Lopesi suggests that “the internet is making it possible for the peoples of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, our great ocean continent, to get to know each other again.”^[02] 02. See E-Tangata Reflections: False Divides – how do we get to know each other again? and False Divides by Lana Lopesi

Whilst taking in the conversation between AJ Fata & Drew Broderick & Josh Tengan, I could really sense the catch22-ness of them thriving on connecting via their screens as well as feeling their pang to be with each other kanohi ki te kanohi – eye to eye – energy to energy – face to face.  So far, this is the first video of the Talanoa series which includes three people gathering; previously the conversations have been between two people.  The dynamic of having three people is really exciting in this context – it opens something up, like birds at dawn, each wing knowing which current to follow.

yeah100

wind went through me

never weave over zoom

let   go   of   defining   ourselves   in   resistance

do      my      ancestors      see      me      ???      ???      ???