Small signs & impressions HT

from rain​-​talk and fever by Andrew Macann

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Small signs & impressions
Hone Tuwhare

Small Holes in the Silence
Collected works
Godwit
© The Estate of Hone Tuwhare

lyrics

Small signs & impressions

(Te Araroa, later part of 1979)

Hey, you, Tangaroa, ocean. YOU, with
the blubbery, soft-thwacking gums
working. What big message do you
beat out with them, today? ... Ay?

Speak louder. Whetumatarae scratches
a bushy head. Does your message
have teeth? ... Ay? Is there
a threat from the South, today?
A threat hidden behind the headland
to the North? Speak.

In Judea, the bible is the grenade,
is the sword, is the gun, the bear
and the eagle droppeth, like dung.
And who impose a common tongue on the
sister and brother voices of Babel, pray?

Wave and river-action are the rock-built hillocks;
the river flat-lands brooding, and YOU, out
there, kaumatua, chest heaving, floating on
your back utterly pierced and sun-rayed: yes,
and what about the good news, then ?

The old old tree, wide as the world, many-rooted,
is leaning back, bad thoughts amputated, waiting
for his own special pataka. Hah! They're trying
to pension me off for chrissake! How arrogant!

The rain falling: there's a rising murmur from
the playing field, and war of another kind with
a taua from the North. And whose is the lasting
victory, Tangaroa?

On one side of the tree only, leaves stir to a fickle
wind, passing.

credits

from rain​-​talk and fever, released November 7, 2016

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Andrew Macann Auckland, New Zealand

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