must have b e e n
my great grandfather [x30] taku tipuna1
Manaia –he
was THE transpacific toa2
well b e f o r e any white-mariner’s hands murkied the swill.aue so faaaaaaaaaar
back.he’d poleaxed that grue Tūpenu
with one mighty swipe
& claiming utu3 for the rape of his wife, –
set sail trans-ocean.
Tokomaru te wakasteered by nga kuaka4 and maybe some whales,
they implored their gods
to skive a route southward,
scanning sidereal for matariki5 on those spectral nights,
&
peregrinating wave crests;
like no one before them.
Tokomaru te waka6drinking deep from blistered nga hue7,
& filching errant flickers of rain
they delved down into kete8 for kūmara and taro,
y i
l n
thrusting for f g fish
yet lusting for far more
than those echinate gills.
Tokomaru te wakatransiting the currents and transcending the moon,
they trespassed on …later, during the night
their gaunt dog absconded
&
guided all to shore with her faint distant yelps.that first salient land-
beak
&
the l o n g white gossamer overA O T E A R O A.
beamed out at them, beckoning.
Rākeiora sounded the pūtātara9;
they beached, stashing nga hoe10,
scrambling for sanctuary …
Taranakiwell a w a y from the liminal,
they’d transgressed the ocean, transposed the skies,transpacific almighty
so waaaaaaaaaay
before now
Poem Notes:
In Māori tradition, Tokomaru was one of the great ocean-going canoes that were used in the migrations that
settled New Zealand. It was commanded by Manaia. His brother-in-law had originally owned the canoe. When
Manaia’s wife was raped by a group of men, he slew them, including the chief Tupenu. Killing his brother-
in-law, he took the Tokomaru and set sail with his family for New Zealand. Landing at Whangaparaoa, they
finally settled at Taranaki. Te Āti Awa iwi trace their ancestry back to Tokomaru. This is my iwi.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones