TURBINE | KAPOHAU

PERENA QUINLIVAN

Homage To Hoani

I’m told I look like you.   
There’s no picture or names, just this  
unmarked place with your lonely bones 
beneath where I stand, now nourished, hushed.
The whānau talk of a wretched, shadowy, even shameful life.

I hear your voice amongst the gentle swoosh of the branches.  
Kōrero mai, e te rangatira. He mihi mahana ki a koe, koro. 
Time holds you to this leafy spot.   
I bind myself to you. 
I’ll return for us.