I was born beneath the colonial shadow

of Maungakiekie’s solitary pine

within cooee of a sacred Rongo stone
in a military hospital built for casualties

of America’s bloody Pacific Campaign
was immediately hoisted by the ankles

and smacked to incite my first breath
a squall of amniotic fluid and fright
my mother called my name 
my crinkled fingers sought her voice
but she was hoisted through birth stirrups

trembling from the shock of delivery

defrocked, immobilised and totally spent
a uniformed interloper swooped me up

measured and recorded vital statistics

admonished me for crying up a storm
and that’s how I was duly welcomed

into the merciless world of light


Maungakiekie (Maori) A mountain that was formerly a pa (fortified village) site.

Also known as One Tree Hill. Rongo (Maori) God of peace and cultivated food, especially the kumara.

Pacific Campaign  WWII – American war effort in the Pacifc region.