Published August 31, 2021
by Miriama Gemmell
(Paraparaumu, New Zealand)
"In 1856 physician and politician Dr Isaac Featherston said it was the duty of Europeans to 'smooth down ... [the] dying pillow' of the Māori race." (Te Ara)
when skiffs heralded
tricornes lusting for
exotic feathers and rarer
treasures the pūngāwerewere
tickling the edges
of starched silk listening
for the death rattle
waiting to wrap it up
turned out to be waiting on
>>>>>>>> a leg
triangle remnant
readying to reincarnate
like the starfish, linckia diplax
of impossible regeneration
metem-psychosis
some cousin of kina
(another salty one
conquistadors can't get
the tongue around)
a new kisser grows
in the image of the last
we are
tracing paper pushed
against the window
arachnids newly limbed
and more likely to sketch
stippled hawk lips
of inherited memory
than wrap it up
relentless and too bravado
for a tidy story arc
pūngāwerewere - spider; kina - sea urchin
Biography
Miriama Gemmell is a Māori poet from Aotearoa New Zealand (Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu). Miriama's poetry has been recently published in Wasafiri Magazine, Turbine, Te Whē, and Poetry New Zealand Yearbook. Miriama wonders whether hoarding is a genetic tendency or one manifestation of intergenerational cultural trauma. Meanwhile she washes yoghurt pots and feels closer to her ancestors. Miriama lives in a cluttered cottage near Wellington with her family.
Previously published in First Nations Poetry Magazine:
"Where Do the Spirited Shelter During Tumult?" by Eric Goodchild
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