Hinemoana Baker

1968 / Christchurch

Talk

make any sound
hiss or bubble
like brick in the hearth

like it was a habit
tell them all about
the mountain

the musical instrument
played with the nose
how we press our noses

to the stone
once for humans
twice for dogs

or is it twice for humans?
chisel out
a cave for us

to sleep in
using your hands
and no recitations

no rites belched out
no arts is there
a word for that?

a stream disappears
underground
then hatches

from the trunks of trees
the yellow quivers
of the kōwhai
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