Whaitiri Tua-Warbrick
Hinetītama
After Robyn Kahukiwa
E Hine –
Robyn left some
hair on your head.
She wove hers
into yours
using fine
brushwork and deep
indigo, black
like Te Pō.
I noticed
’cause I’m nosy.
Touched nose
to nose with you,
breathed with you.
Like how
your dad
did
your mum
(not like
that
but,
you know.)
Hair and dust
surround you
now. Like a cloak.
Like a halo.
Like a final
gift from the
womb-dark
of the studio
before the light
of knowing
met you
here
in this gallery
and you were
Seen.
Whaitiri Tua-Warbrick (Rangitāne/Ngāti Raukawa) is a poet/writer based in Palmerston North and has been seen sitting down by the river. It doesn’t matter which river, as one river is every river. He hopes to see you down there too.