numa

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

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.

Haumia

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.

“Haumia”

where fantails

had saltimbiqued

the day before

above a nameless creek

a spade was left standing

in the bush today

an orange and black spade

trade-marked ” Atlas”

planks lay

across the streams to it

without any boot-treads

in the mud

no digging or planting

where it had lodged

with one clean cut

while

in another gully

ferns blew around

in a constant downdraught

left was

the spade’s advent

the spade itself planted

and kept

Te Awamutu

3 July 2015

Haumia is the Maori god of uncultivated plants, edible fern-roots etc.

Kihikihi

a grave

by the highway

where two foes

should be buried

and down the road

to Orakau

where the hill is cut

in half

choose your side

2 July 2015

Te Awamutu

I would rather risk being Delphic than laden the poem with a history lesson. I want it to remain like an epitaph. But Sir George Grey and Rewi Maniapoto agreed to be buried together in 1884, and only Rewi lies at Kihikihi. Down the road is his “last stand” which took place at the siege of the pa at Orakau in 1864. The road bisects it. The visitors teeters on banks between the road and farm fences from which the ground falls away on all sides.

Te Awamutu

for Su Cullen

this is the land

of big night

where black fields

of stars go on

and sun

is totally

burnt out

the world

is small

and concealed

gales

leave the sky

clear

there Venus

and Jupiter couple

there the moon

lights only itself

this night

will never be broken

Te Awamutu NZ

1 July 2015

Venus and Jupiter are indeed just 2 degrees apart, forming a halo. I refer to the gale-swept previous nights of late June, as those planets drew closer.