Jessica Hinerangi

Bones

Lolling back in the bath
like the tongue of a taniwha
slinking out of glassy āria,
belly out and purposeful,
a naked, hairy marakihau,
obsidian canines and incisors
trailing toward my centre fold,
you could almost see me
cut into pieces,
split like the wood of the
flagpole hacked down
– tap tap tap taonga –
– rich karukaru –
I am patient yet
desperate to know,
pleased to do the mahi,
but gasping for a break.
Through my studies I read
Keri Hulme writing
over and over
‘where are your bones?’
I wonder where mine lie,
where they rest,
where they are hidden . . .
Where are our bones?
Why will you not share with me
my bones?

Where is my tongue?
On display, a trophy of war.
Where is my tikanga?
Kept in the basement.
Where is my mana?
Locked in the museum.
And where are my whānau?
Scattered like dandelion seeds,
from the grating city,
to the harnessed horizon.
Where will we go?
How can we move forward
If we do not look back?

previously published in Āria (2023, AUP)

Ko Whakatere Manawa Kaiaia rāua ko Taranaki ōku maunga
Ko Waima Tuhirangi rāua ko Waingongoro ōku awa
Ko Te Mahurehure rāua ko Kanihi-Umutahi ōku hapū
Ko Ngāpuhi rāua ko Ngāruahine rāua ko Ngāti Ruanui ōku iwi
Ko Jessica Hinerangi T.C toku ingoa.

Jessica is a multi- media cyclical creative. She works primarily in digital illustration, poetry, fiction, and whenua pigment painting, often under the name Māori Mermaid. She has her degree and Masters Coursework from Otago University, and has been published in Landfall, Starling, and Pantograph Punch.
Jessica published her first book of poetry titled Āria in 2023 with Auckland University Press.