HINEMOANA BAKER

 

Last Born

 
I am the last born 
I move through the crowd with my shiny red wheels 
I bring with me large animals and flaming spikes in cages 
I am the last born and I know who I want to vote for 
I know the identity of the figure in black 
Low prices are written all over my face 
I am the last born and I have a long following 
Everything and everyone is my elder 
I move through the relatives in my green leaves 
I eat canoes and drink inlets 
I have a beard and a small fat crab inside my shell 
I am the last born the pōtiki the teina 
Everything breaks its back over me but there are 
Many ways to build from scratch and in spite of the fact 
That every fourth corner of the land has been walked 
Over I make everything ready, being the last born 
I am desired at each event, to lay down the 
Cow leather, to direct people to the location of 
The demons, the devils in the tarmac 
We all bite something for a living 
I know not to rave and shout when I reach these places 
I bring children with me, just the right number 
Of pumpkins and I sing completely out of tune 
Buying up all the land around with my lucky sand dollars 
 

Feminist: A Found Poem

 
I voted for Chaz I’m such a geek I bet I’ll vote every week. 
I was disappointed by the Flair guy. 
Isn’t the whole point of his act 
 
that you get a drink at the end of it? 
How can that happen when you set everything on fire? 
That weird guy with the red flag sucked. Fiddles are boring. 
 
I missed the Opera singer because I was distracted 
by the Tourette’s kid but I hope 
an Opera singer doesn’t win. 
 
I was totally going to vote for the carnie kid 
with the hula hoops – what are you gonna buy 
with the hundred grand a purple house – so cute 
 
but in the end she lost my vote to Chaz mainly 
because her name is Americus and I think that’s the worst name 
you could give a child after Shitface. 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hinemoana Baker is a writer, musician, producer and teacher of creative writing. Her Māori whakapapa ranges from Taranaki through the Horowhenua down to the Ōtākou peninsula near Dunedin. Her Pākehā ancestors were from England and Bavaria. Hinemoana’s first poetry collection, mātuhi | needle (2004), was co-published in New Zealand by Victoria University Press and in the US by Perceval Press. In 2007 she co-edited the anthology Kaupapa: New Zealand Poets, World Issues and created the sound design for I Can See Fiji: Poetry and Sound by Teresia Teaiwa. This year she edited 4th Floor 2008, the online literary journal of Whitireia Polytechnic. She is about to publish a new collection of poetry, I’m sick of this place, let’s get back on the canoe. For more information, see her website. 

‘Feminist: A Found Poem’ is composed from internet comments about the TV show New Zealand’s Got Talent. The comments were from a member of the website ‘uthink’. The text, with minor adaptations, is reproduced here with permission.

 

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