B.
Wind the tape back by Danielle O'Halloran
Note
Danielle O'Halloran reads her own poem, Wind The Tape Back, written in response to the exhibition Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Ani O'Neill 'etu iti
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; purchased 2018
Same shit different day.
Different day same shit.
Taking the god with the bad
like we always have
somethings gonna have to give.
What we see is real
signposts the looters left.
The stars are back in lines for
a new era of love and discomfort
we just forgot how to read
stuff the stories missed
like how every action has a reaction
and ours is to seek the higher.
Taking care of the remains
rituals made of now and then
once were voyagers
with handfuls of light, now
Inside us the dead
where all the stuff and monuments
are turned to sand.
The heart takes it all.
Our sovereign selves are
plastic skinned survivors
made of video and
fish hooks we pull up
along all eight points of the star mound
to remake the sacred centre
wherever we happen to be born.
Wind the tape back
and no worries if it's stuff you forgot
Go ask the kids and they’ll tell you.
Ask the manu, the gogo, the piwakawaka, the kowhai, the rosemary, the peach, go ask your dog.
It's all good.
You're not lost.
You got-choo.