in the back of aunty’s whip
makawe rewilding in the hau
hands on hot plastic we are
precious in the cargo trailer
and i think, i want to be telling
my nephew to put down the
fishing rod and mihi atu ki a whaea
for the rest of always,
i wanna go out telling him
‘it’s an urupā not a flower farm’ and
that i have comeback to see the dead
in my grass rash the gods in my genepool
the fruits in my fat
i want this land to return me dirty
and sodden, to de-extinct me
from the birdbones out
i want my river to whāngai me
backwards as in, i wanna come through
this place to find there is no otherside
other than this one
Featured photo by Katelyn Greer on Unsplash.
