15 April 2022
By “Te Aro Pā Poets” Rachel Buchanan, Debbie Broughton, Hana Buchanan
(Poutūterangi | March 2022)
Have you heard of Te Aro Pā
Between
Pukeahu
And the harbour?
Where Ngāti Haumia
And Ngāti Tupaia
Pulled
Survey pegs from the ground?
Have you heard of our ancestors
Who were
Artists
Of the impossible?
Our artist ancestors
Who survived pandemics
And war
And forced displacement?
Our ancestors
Who taught us
The art of survival
And the art of resistance?
Have you heard of our Taranaki artists
Our carvers, and weavers
Tattooists
And poets?
Our linguists
And orators
Healers
And visionaries?
Have you heard that you and I
Are related
Through
The whakapapa of art?
Kua rongo koe i
te taukaea?
Kua rongo koe i
te taukaea?
Panapana ana
ko te manawa
Panapana ana
te manawa whenua
Ka hīwawā
te Waimapihi
Paorotia
e te Waitangi
Ka teretere atu
he karere
I ngā tai roa
a Manawanui:
“Tuituia te kupu
Tuituia ngā tāngata
Kia renarena
te taukaea
Kia tū tiketike tonu
te Toi e!”
Have you heard of
The link
Between us?
Have you felt
The ties that bind us?
Beating heart
Pulsing heartbeat
Of the land
The waters of Waimapihi
Whisper
The waters of Waitangi
Echo
A message
Flows out
On the expansive tides
Of Resilience:
“Bind the word
Bind the people
Fasten the ties that bind
Artists, stand tall and true!”
By “Te Aro Pā Poets” Rachel Buchanan, Debbie Broughton, Hana Buchanan
(Poutūterangi | March 2022)