essa may ranapiri
Zoa
for Joshua Whitehead
rorohiko hustle data thru th wildebeest of mbs a fan spinning itself to death inside th
machine a rat stuck in a steel box a blowtorch humming it red Zoa is reclined on a receipt of
food is too expensive to live on once again he’s resting his feet on the arm of the
couch dreaming of motorbikes travelling over the great plains a cloud of Pōpokotea
caping out behind him what spirit is not doubled double double doublehelix here in
this wairua! here in this place where rivers cross their streams double double doublehelix
there can be a willing and whiling and the spinning dust devil try it Zoa got the
magic collage an engorged penis over the union jack and be done with it to
blow those fucking white. slave. owning. rapists. right off the face of Maunga so
many-spirited you’d think all the ancestors showed up to cuss them out
Echidna and The Spider
for Michelle Rahurahu
the wharepaku disguised by hills in a whitewashed town next to the sea the
first time in a long time that Echidna has heard the gulls and smelt the
Moana she’s spending time in the big city with its wrong turns and
billboards for a life well lived she ain’t alone been travelling with
the Spider dressed from head to toe in dark denim Spider’s trying out
that goth lifestyle she missed as a kid mascara for each of her eight
eyes and that hot tino rangatiratanga look with the flag taking pride
and place on her back oi Waru Karu u trying to make web in there?
Echidna cackles the Spider just shouts fuck off from the stall
I’m taking a shit
Echidna settles back swinging her tails out behind her
/ / / / / / / /
Echidna and the Spider both dislike the same things
and that’s enough to love each other over
pointing at something awful and saying it is full of awful-ness
pulling out their own teeth and trading them in the dark
/ / / / / / / /
Echidna and the Spider are sitting
in a car on the motorway
road works in South Auckland again
crawling over the roads
crawling over the neoliberal solution
to issues of transportation
Echidna is humming along to a song
that she’s had stuck in her head for
years now can’t remember the words
except for red liquid red liquid
humming along to silence nothing playing
on the radio
what does it mean wrapped around
such a flat delivery
/ / / / / / / /
they play videogames in the small hours
gamertags in the glow of the multimillion dollar graphical fidelity
talking shit
Ngā Hine Kaitākaro just ripping fake bodies to shreds
in the perfect blooded light of the morning
coloniser after coloniser just getting bullet
after bullet highscoring in the glaze of the inside
the controller sticky with airplanes and gummy bears
when a surface clings to the palm it makes sitting in this violence
natural why would you move why would you look away?
Echidna relaxing into the crumbed couch
while the Spider does a million things at once
signing ur all gonna die with her free hands
the crackle of the speakers the radical imagination
they both just laugh and laugh
/ / / / / / / /
they’re sharing takeaways
next to the ocean
bony butts on a park bench
The Spider signs into the air
did you know liking hot chips makes you gay
Echidna smiles
does it?
there is just the sound of waves crashing
and the newspaper rustling
the grease making things
transparent
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
essa may ranapiri (Ngāti Wehi Wehi / Na Guinnich / Highgate) is a takatāpui poet from Kirikiriroa. They’re tired all the time and think that might just be depression lol fuck when will the change actually come?