Cliffs for mad nocturnals

translated by Renata Blair (Ngati Whatua)

In the framework of a window
I stare at the grey slapping sea
flax stalks
the twinkling needles of streetlights
the leaping-off cliffs
for mad nocturnals.

 
I do not wish to be stuck in this oblong
for long. I prefer
the rising upheavals of forested tenements
the slums of paddocks
locals who haka
without adorning themselves with lights

 
or the simple symmetry
the picture of a woman
garden-struck
upright
her arms like branches
hands bursting into flower.

I do not wish to stand still
like her however
self amputating at a touch.
I clamp my jaws to a cranial fragment
torn from the moon
and run.

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Mo nga tangata te po

Kei te Matapihi ahau
ka titiro ahau ki te moana e paki mai ana
ko nga Rito i tu
Ko nga Rama e kowhawha ana
nga Pari e hora ana
mo nga tangata o te Po.

 
Kare he pai ka noho tonu ake nei
ko te ngahere i whakaara
nga Whenua i atea
ko ngai Maori
i haka marika ra
kare he whakahihi-
koira te hiahia Otira -
ko te ahua noa o te wahine
mara tonu
kia tu
pera nga peka
me nga hua puawai ki ona ringa.

Kore tu tonu ahau
Engari pera ki te wahine.
ka ma ahau i tona awhina
He nui ake aku mamae
mai te Marama
ka oma ka haere ka haere.

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