Have you ever stood,
craning your neck to look up into the canopy
of the ancient kauri, Tane Mahuta,
while peace and birdsong permeate your soul?

Have you ever felt
the crusty spray and the satanic whiff
as the Pohutu geyser shoots aloft
while a dozen languages bubble through te reo?

Have you ever shivered
in the receding darkness,
standing in the china-white sand as you waited
for the first sunrise over Makorori Beach?

Have you ever sat
on the summit of Mt Taranaki
and eaten a well-deserved sandwich
while cows grazed far below on the lush, volcanic-rich pasture?

Have you ever experienced
that mixture of fear and awe
as an orca’s dorsal breached beside your too-fragile kayak
in the shining waters of the Abel Tasman?

Have you ever paused
atop a ski run on Coronet Peak
and reflected on the reflections
of sunlight dancing on snow and water?

Have you ever felt sorry
for tourism chiefs and advertising creatives
trapped in offices in the Auckland CBD
dreaming up “100% Pure” and “Clean and Green”?

I have a right to stand
I'm claiming it now.

Turangawaewae; 'a place to stand'
Is a deep empowerment from the land
Learnt through ancestral connection
Strengthened through ahi ka; 'keeping the fires burning'
Well, my ancestral stories ain't so impressive
There were few battles
Though my granddad worked for the air force in world war two
- As an accountant
We didn't encounter the gods or try to bring down the sun
Though when my Grandma arrived here she built up the soil
Soul of the Earth
For 70 years
As the city sprang up around her
And my mother aged 11 played follow the leader with a goat in the next door construction site
Where her house is now
My uncle found an old mans false teeth in a cup
Climbing through an abandoned house
My aunt visited James K Baxter's Jerusalem
She wasn't a fan of his poetry
But his wisdom spoke to her
My other aunts jumped through the neighbours trees
Who threatened to shoot them
My father followed my mother here
After her O.E with my sister in the oven
He ******* about John Key as much as anyone
And praises this land; it is home.

I stood on a windy cliff surrounded by pohutukawa and learnt the whisper of the sea
Roughing it on an island I tried determinedly to turn into a pukeko
I got my first cut, bruise, scrape from this land
My first breath, poem, touch of a violin, my first kiss was here
I know the rough patches, the fringe scene, where the best soil is
(It's at my grams house)
I know how to spot a drug house, which cafes will let us jam, where the open mics are 5 days of the week.
I know Kirikiriroa.

My fires have been burning
And I have a right to stand
I have learnt through my own evolution
Through Janet Frame's railroad country
Through a history
Cities growing and spreading
They weren't just here
As it has always seemed to me.

The countryside, what was here before?
Landscapes of forest and mountain
Familiar yet unknown to me.

When I go away I will know the difference
When I return I will know this land
The depth recognized through contrast
Defined by difference
As the sun and moon complement
Light and dark
Sorrow and joy
And,
As in yin and yang
I will know nothing is completely separate.

When I go away I will know
So fully
And I will return and say:

This is my place to stand
My turangawaewae
My Aotearoa

a polyamorous couple moves from chicago
to new zealand

things were getting so bad in the states
they both tweeted on a daily basis
multiple times per day

once situated they began to lecture the locals
on the racist colonials who racistly named the country new zealand
when the real name could only ever be aotearoa

"here in aotearoa, things are so much better than in the states"
they would tweet on a daily basis

before moving to aotearoa, the female of the couple
sold her son to a man named richard levine

richard levine killed several hundred elderly people
and can currently be found advocating that children watch ****
and amputate their body parts

richard levine and aotearoa are always where it's at for polyamorous couples from chicago

a friend from chicago sent flowers on a regular basis
and the woman of the couple tweeted how the flowers were lovely
but she would rather have received money instead of the flowers

her next tweet was about how she had a talk with the friend who sent the flowers and how he agreed to send her money instead

there was also an earlier tweet about how another friend from chicago died recently

"it's sad because he gave people in the kink community a lot of money to help them out financially"
tweeted the woman of the couple who sold her son to richard levine.

This place is void of sound I walk
at night to catch glimpses of your
stunted wings through Akatarawa and
Whakatane I walk through darkness
waiting for your call your weak
reminder that you have not left
this place your plea for remembrance
in Aotearoa. Little bird, where is
Tane Mahuta now as the trees come down
for wider streets in Muriwai I walk
under moonlight trying to be unseen
like you trying to be mistaken
for the landscape in Rangitoto.
Little bird, I wonder what you
have done in a past life to deserve
no flight I imagine you are Maui
and were sentenced to a land-bound
life among the Pohutakawas and
Wheki-pongas and we have made
you our martyr thank you for the
fire.

Inside me there’s a story  
of countries left behind beneath silent sails
running before trade winds and storms
enduring unthinkable hardships
and suffering deaths before they had reached their destination
or left their mothers breast

Inside of me there’s a story
of reaching a strange land
encountering a people steeped in war and hostilities
experiencing winter’s bitter bite in manuka huts
and putting up with it all in the
faint hope that the land would bring a better life

Inside of me there’s a story
of hiking across mountain ranges
rafting down icy rivers
tramping through bush and mud thick with mosquitos
to seek out safe harbours in which to build
towns and clear the way for others

Inside of me there’s a story
which dwells in the history of us all
to enrich our very existence and our being
telling of the strength of our ancestors
who came to this land of Aotearoa  
and made her name great

We can change history
miss Clarke, it is easy,
just re-write the lies
your historians wrote
about the early settlers
in New Zealand, which
if you had any respect
for, it would be called
Aotearoa, the official
Maori name. Tell the
world about your nations
attempt to eradicate
native Maori and what
is written at the base
of the Obelisk on One
Tree Hill by Sir John
Logan Campbell.


*Laura Clarke is the British high commissioner to New Zealand

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Campbell, like many European New Zealanders of his generation, had expected that Māori would gradually die out and that an impressive memorial would be a most fitting symbol to perpetuate their memory.[19] By the 1930s this had obviously not happened, and some considered the term "memorial" was inappropriate with many Māori objecting to its use. During construction of the obelisk, a suggestion was made that it should be described as a centennial tower to mark the centennial year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and not a memorial.[19]




https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/02/heres-why-the-uk-wants-to-strengthen-its-relationship-with-new-ze­aland-maori

Dom Felice Vaggioli The Italian priest who's book on New Zealand was banned by Queen Victoria.

Besides world cup, Virus
is our only universal plural.

Anonymous players in face
masks televised live, nightly.

International leaders invited
to comment on team strategy.

WHO is the referee, UK, USA
and Brazil were caught offside.

Yellow cards are out there as a
reminder: ((no close tackling)).

Jacinda Ardern's been coaching
team Aotearoa, Hakademically!

In fact, some are expecting her
side to be eliminated, initially.

Leo Varadkar resorted to poetry
and climate hoping for a change,

"If we winter this out, we
can summer anywhere".

Michael O'Leary may have a
ting or two to say about dat!