Manukau The Poem

For Curnow

I know 'manu' means bird

because a traffic cop from Gisborne

who got a job at

Christchurch Polytech

told me about a Ngati Porou waiata

by the president of the Black Power

composed in Pare max

as a bird beat its wing against his cell bars on the way to the outside

Erere

and manu was definitely a bird

And I know kau means no

because the head of my

Tainui

whangai

used to say it a lot

when I, frequently, got Te Reo wrong.

it comes from the whakatauki,

in loose translation,

'there is no light at the end of the tunnel'

or,

'the lights are on, but, nobody's home'

Manukau, are you slightly less than an elephant's arsehole?

Manukau, do you count

now your heart is pierced with orange roof tiles?

Manukau, do you count

more than a mortgage draining swamp,

more than three cents a litre?

Do you count

more than a Mediterranean pastiche,

somewhere between Napier and Disneyland?

Or, are you the bird song no-one expected?

Only when your children dance

Only when your children sing

Only when your children beat the cage with their wings.

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