Rangiriri -150th

Rangiriri is the gate

its two hills salute

the traffic passing north

they crouch and aim

as you drive south

into their line of fire

the motorway builds

around them

when will the two hills

be one again

Oxford

27 September 2015

The Siege of Rangiriri occurred over 20-21 November 1863

Kawhia

Kawhia
waits for the night

Kawhia
to be filled
with the stars

lagoon
to lagoon
we came to her

her waters
held in
by the bar

Tainui

is floating again

Hamilton
20 September 2015

Raglan

Whatawhata

is the first step

climb on

through seas of rain

to green pinnacles

where night

alternates with day

by the moment

and giant turbines

tilt the wind

the road

is a staircase

that lets you down

from the sky

at Whaingaroa -

let the havens

the heavens

make a heathen

of you

4 September 2015

Hamilton

Tuheitia is the taniwha at Whatawhata which is where a famed whare wananga taught, which King Potatau studied at. Every year King Tuheitia visits his tutelary taniwha at dawn before the poukai at Whatawhata.

Whatawhata

Whatawhata

is easy to miss

a clump of trees

a few sections

and a store

overlooked

place of learning

almost hidden

in the open

of a school for chieftains

some shelter remains

washed by

the Waipa

revising its course

by oxbows

as the bright earth bleeds

torrents of clay

there’s no secret -

to the Queen

her chain

to Tuheitia

his taniwha

4 September 2015

Hamilton NZ

On seeing a photo of Sir George Grey in uniform

great Grey ghost

you got your way

this great grey rain

this great Grey Street 

this great grey town

this morning

you got your

Great South Road

you got your war

you got your peace

you got your world

that is ours now

this solid wet morn

we forget your war

we forget your peace

we forget your great

Greyness

we have forgotten

we are begotten

and just are

sodden conquistador

of great rains

which keep coming back

1 September 2015

Grey Street Kitchen

Hamilton NZ

Rangiriri - March 2015

 Rangiriri - March 2015 

the siege is still

going on

the siege’s now on

in peace

a motorway’s

being built

graders diggers

dump-trucks work -

where ironclads

landed their shot

pile-drivers

make their report

the parted hill

keeps its place

rough ground

where men stumbled

into metal

steep to die under

die on

a fence and lychgate

seal off

once

raw earthworks too

between the lake

and the river

lie the swamps

and still

the only way through

15-16/17 August 2015

Heathrow Terminal Three

Melbourne International Airport

The siege of Rangiriri took place 20-21 November 1863

the siege is still

going on

the siege’s now on

in peace

a motorway’s

being built

graders diggers

dump-trucks work -

where ironclads

landed their shot

pile-drivers

make their report

the parted hill

keeps its place

rough ground

where men stumbled

into metal

steep to die under

die on

a fence and lychgate

seal off

once

raw earthworks too

between the lake

and the river

lie the swamps

and still

the only way through

15-16/17 August 2015

Heathrow Terminal Three

Melbourne International Airport

The siege of Rangiriri took��place 20-21 November 1863.�

Otorohanga

don’t doubt
the redoubt

you will learn
at Otorohanga
by the white pine
or kahikatea

how far south
you may go -

all you
war parties
British armies
railroaders
shepherd kings
cow cockies
grog-runners
Ernst and Young
PwC

here it is
standing in the stars
on the rough domain

the tree hedged
in constellation

because
Ngati Maniapoto women
once seduced
musket-wielding victors
from the north

and withdrew
as their men rose
from the river
before dawn

Upas tree
sown in sperm blood
and brain

wrath-stock and anger-stem
trunk and branch balance

at the white pine
of judgement -

everyone will know victory
each will taste defeat
some must know oblivion

Oxford
14 August 2015

King Country

the last stand

was not the end

refuge was found

in a final place

where karst hills

like buried clouds

swallow up rivers

and pour them out

again

soldiers never

came in pursuit

Te Kuiti never

fell to arms

the people came out

more numerous

and younger

there Te Kooti

and the King

discerned the secret ways

through time

to this day

the ground will give way

the belligerent air

go solid with rain

the sky harden with gales

that ground the planes

the wharenui quiver

with defiance

at each passing freight

gods of war

marshalled

a riband of rainbow

salutes

the black sunset

Richard of York gave ………

29 July 2015

Oxford

The King Country is the name given the redoubt of the second Maori King Tawhiao (reiged 1860-94) , when Ngati Maniapoto who live about Te Kuiti gave refuge to the King and his Tainui people in 1864 during the Waikato War. Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki ( c 1832-93) the warleader and prophet from Ngati Maru on the Eastern Cape, also found refuge in Te Kuiti, and built the wharenui, or meeting house which still stands there.

Taupiri -

young mountain

a shoulder for kings

28 March 2015

Hopuhopu

Ngaruawahia

Taupiri mountain is where the Maori kings are buried. The Hakarimata ranges are geologically young.

where fantails

had saltimbiqued

the day before

above a nameless creek

a spade was left standing

in the bush today

an orange and black shovel

trademarked ” Atlas”

planks lay

across the streams to it

without boot-treads

in the mud

no digging or planting

where it had lodged

with one clean cut

meanwhile

a downdraught of ferns

blew about

in the gully beside

left was

the spade’s advent

the spade itself planted

and kept

Te Awamutu

3 July 2015

Haumia is the Maori gods of ferns, and uncultivated plants, and edible fern-roots.