must   have    b e e n

my    great    grandfather [x30]                                               taku tipuna

Manaia –    

he

was THE transpacific toa

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 utu for the rape of his wife, –

set sail trans-ocean.

                                                                                     Tokomaru te waka
steered by nga kuaka and maybe some whales,

they implored their gods

to skive a route southward,

scanning sidereal for matariki     on those    spectral    nights,

                  &

peregrinating wave crests;

like no one before them.

                                                                                     Tokomaru te waka
drinking deep from blistered nga hue,

& filching errant flickers of rain

they delved down into kete for kūmara and taro,

                           y i

                         l    n

thrusting for  f      g  fish

yet lusting for far more

than those echinate gills.

                                                                                     Tokomaru te waka
transiting 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       over    
              A  O  T  E  A  R  O  A. 
beamed out at them, beckoning.
Rākeiora sounded the pūtātara;

they beached, stashing nga hoe,

scrambling for sanctuary …

                                                                                               Taranaki
well         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.



 My ancestor ↩
 Warrior ↩
 Revenge ↩
 the godwits ↩
 Pleiades star constellation ↩
 The canoe ↩
 Gourds ↩
 Kit bags made of flax ↩
 Conch shell ↩
 Large paddles ↩