Aunty

Aunty...

... She laid down almost spent... Remembering her youth... her friends... her loves and sorrows... Her many triumphs had been hard fought and therefore so much richer for their winnings... The losses she kept close to heart... Her strength had come from many many years watching, learning and then doing... Her Mara Kai was sleeping biding it's time... She knew the seasonal timings having lived through them watching, learning and then doing... She could count not just on her knowledge but the vast collective shared understandings from the surrounding environments... The weather patterns that cleansed the tops of the mountains fed the streams powered the rivers flowed into ponds and lakes seeped into every nook and cranny, and there be a few of those she chuckled... The circling Sun and Moon drew the moisture out of the very air that we breath... Tempering and re-using the fluidity of it's motion to sustain and nourish the many varied families who understood it's purpose and then carrying on to the sea.. To rise and fall again.. This and much more had she shared with her children and children's children's children... Yes she had cleansed a few bottoms, wiped many tears... Held up each one of them... Acknowledging their gift and then sent them on their ever journey... A sparkled memory arose from it's long slumbering...Nothing stops... All is constant... Carry on your ever journey song... Like a lullaby... It soothed the transitions... She saw some people approaching... Oh how she wished to see and hear her many grandchildren laughing and playing... She took pride in always expecting unexpected visitors... Welcoming with a slight wave and harmonic rise... Oh that's when she came into to own... From the porch they were led to their seats... She had watched, learned these doings many times... The cadence of the many speakers like clock workings reach out beyond time and back again... They better hurry up or my pies will be ruined and then they'll know... Thank the four winds this is the last song... Short and sweet knowing Mere... Nothing stops... All is constant... They're getting close I better get up... Come on old girl this be the last one's for the day... Then it's Wā Kai... All made from my Mara over the fence... The sun is setting and the birds have flown to their perch... What a glorious day it has been... Some of the visitors nodded... Some carried on quickly glancing... Some pressed noses sharing breath an essence... Yes there were those that cried... My wisp like arms held on to each one of them until they could again move on... Every moment... Every speech and song throughout the night was acknowledged and not wasted... The very last moment suspended as the door gently closed... Nothing stops... All is constant... Carry on your ever journey song...

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Photo by Sophie Stephens

He Hokinga Māhara...

... He sat as his position afforded him... Age had no bearing on this as there were those senior by 2 decades atleast further up the line that rose to speak before him... He would be the last speaker... So if it wasn't age then what was it??? He knew all the speakers at this gathering... Their tribal affiliations or inter-marriages all of which played an important role when reciting genealogies and the laying down of the Wero for the next speakers... He chuckled when one of the newbies added a quick flourish of footwork stabbing at the imagined foes with his Tokotoko... Accenting his speech making... Everyone ooohhh'd an aaahhh'd... Gee boy if my balls rode that high I'd be strutting and prancing up and down Te Maraeātea a Tūmatauenga in front of everybody... He saw the old one's squabbling over their Moko... See I taught him that... Ae Ae... But I gave him ability to speak... Yes and I gave him the passion said another... Well done boy you've done them all proud today... The gathering had been called because of recent auxiliary governmental boundary changes within their Takiwā... Yet again they hadn't listened to the people and yet again it was the people who were suppose to shoulder an accommodate these changes... They were all there... The pro and con speakers... Everyone would be given a chance to have their say as long as their Kōrero was Tika and Pono to the Kaupapa or pay the cost and be shut down... This forum wasn't something to be mucked around with... Cost exacted could be brutal in it's beautiful simplicity if you didn't know your stuff... Many a battle had been won or lost on a single word or miscalculation in direction... Some wore these scars as marks of wisdom's learnt, others did not... The next group approached the open space heads bowed in silent acknowledgement... A low humming started... Now it begins again... I closed my eyes an allowed my inner sight to envision the many layered strips of Kōrero being laid down to weave a speaking platform... You must keep the Ara straight or you'll get lost in the maze of patterns he heard the elders say to each other at different Hui... Each patterning had it's own resonance if you listened carefully enough... He had been taken to many a gathering as a young boy... There always were a couple of them seated together... They would in their turn take up the role and position vacated by the passing on of the speaker... This would be their blessed sacred duty and the reason why they had been carved out early in their childhood... Each place and Hui had it's own particular nuance... To understand the Kaupapa and the Kōrero you had to understand the people their roles and rituals and the land forrest or sea that supported them... Everything ebbed and flowed on ones perception of the whole... Everything affected everything... Now here comes the te Kai o te Kōrero... I sat calmly rubbing an ancient Tokotoko feeling for a particular notch or groove which would agree or not with what was being said... Every incision had been personally made by those whom had held the last speakers role... Every mark held a place in time of his/her-story and it's bearer had the responsibility of weaving it all together in a coherent design... The staff bore hundreds of markings an indentation... Most of the speakers now had had their say and they were beginning to repeat themselves... The gathering was getting impatient and shouting any repetitive discussion down... No point going down that path again they said we got it the first time stupid... I loved my people for their honesty openness and willingness to get on with it... I could already hear the Whakangahau group preparing their songs of entertainment as the Hangi smells drifted and stirred the rumbling stomachs... My hands came to a smooth unmarked position on the staff and I stood in the clear open expanse chiselled tongue tasting all offerings...

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Photo by Kelly Awatere

Kereru

Kereru...

E Kereru... I saw you sitting high above... I looked to you and you said... "Come join with me... Be me... So we may fly through the trees... Of our home..."

E Kereru you have lifted me up above the green Pounamu lake... On Majestic wings we soar the air with much fanning flare... oh how I dared! E Kereru...

E Kereru... I looked through your eyes as we glide about in our world... Vibrant colors shine in Oracle twirls spiraling all around... Oh what have I found?... A Charmed... Wooded... Wonderland... Ever flowing with life...

Whaka - Papa (Tuanuku)

Whaka-Papa-(Tua-Nuku)
A Trees strength...
Is in its hands...
Tendrils grasping...
Holding...
The sands of man...

Pita
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220812...

Kereru

E Kereru... 
I saw you sitting high above... 
I looked to you and you said... 
"Come join with me... Be me... 
So we may fly through the trees... 
Of our home..."

E Kereru you have lifted me up above the green Pounamu lake... 
On Majestic wings we soar the air with much fanning flare... 
oh how I dared! 
E Kereru...

E Kereru... 
I looked through your eyes as we glide about in our world... 
Vibrant colors shine in Oracle twirls spiraling all around... 
Oh what have I found?... 
A Charmed... Wooded... Wonderland... 
Ever flowing with life...

090812...

Snake Dreams...

I reach to Papa with scales of green, shiny, sleek with a slippery sheen... Tongue darts, in and out, scent tasting, of what's around... Lying still upon a mound, sensors alert for movement below... Earth rumbles and groans, births labor sounds call, the last born son is about to take his toll... Slip Gliding Snake moves off in search of easier prey...

090812...

Dream Rumblings...

The heart pounds beneath the ground, where our mother's unborn son is found... Deep within her subterranean chest, he has awakened, startled after long rest... His gaze of glazed red fury spews, his disgust of what was wrought of trust abused... Veins pulse, thickened with lava blood... Stretching, exposing Mother's skin, Earth's crust... Cracks widen, and fissures vent as he steps forth, to call all challenger prepare your worst... Ko Ruaumoko e ngunguru nei hi au au aue ha hi...