A classic poem from the superstar of Aoetaroa poetry, in a powerful new anthology of Māori writing
Identity Politics
I buy a Mana Party T-shirt from AliExpress.
$9.99 free shipping via standard post.
Estimated arrival 14–31 working days.
Tracking unavailable via DSL. Asian size XXL.
I wear it as a dress with thigh-high vinyl boots
and fishnets. I post a picture to Instagram.
Am I navigating correctly? Tell me,
which stars were my ancestors looking at?
And which ones burnt the black of searching irises
and reflected something genuine back? I look to
Rihanna and Kim Kardashian shimmering in
Swarovski crystals. Make my eyes glow with seeing.
I am inhaling, long white clouds and I see
rivers of milk running toward orange oceans of
sunlit honey. Tell me, am I navigating correctly?
I want to spend my money on something bougie,
like custom-made pounamu hoop earrings. I want to
make them myself but my line doesn’t trace back
to the beauties in the south making amulets
with elegant fingers. I go back into blackness,
I go back and fill in the gaps, searching through archives
of advertisements: Welcome to the Wonderland
of the South Pacific. Tiki bars, traffic-light cocktails &
paper umbrellas. Tell me, am I navigating correctly?
Steering through the storm drunk & wet-faced
waking up to the taste of hangover, a dry mouth, a strange bed,
shirt above my head is the flag fluttering over everything.
What were we celebrating? The 6th of February is the anniversary
of the greatest failed marriage this nation has ever seen.
In America, couples have divorce parties. We always arrive
fashionably late. Tell me, am I navigating correctly? The sea
our ancestors traversed stretches out farther than the stars.
Republished with kind permission from the new anthology of Māori poetry and fiction Te Awa o Kupu edited by Vaughan Rapatahana and Kiri Piahana-Wong (Penguin Random House, $37), a companion volume to the nonfiction anthology Ngā Kupu Wero edited by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $37), both available in bookstores nationwide. Contributors to the two anthologies include Moana Maniapoto, Joanna Kidman, Patricia Grace, Alice Tawhai and Coco Solid. ReadingRoom is devoting all week to the books. Monday: an essay by Shilo Kino on the power of Māori journalism. Tuesday: "Reasons why I called in sick rather than go to the mihi whakatau for new employees last Friday" by Jack Remiel Cottrell. Tomorrow: a korero on the two Penguin anthologies by Paula Morris.
"Identity Politics" first appeared in Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2018). The author will be appearing alongside other writers this weekend at the 2023 Māori Writers Festival, Kupu: Ngā Ringa Tuhituhi, in Rotorua.
