Matariki and Ngatoro-i-rangi

Navigated here by the stars of Tane’s wisdom thrown at the sky

By Ngatoro-i-rangi Te Arawa’s greatest eyes of the night

Mapped by Ranginui to our final destination Aotearoa

Five main rocks that bind us to the voyage of our past

Seven main stars of feminine mystery speaking truth

Divining all that we may harvest from this sacred earth

Tuwharetoa you come from great and have made even greater

We speak your name the father of our appearance on the horizon

Tuwharetoa you keep us close to the stars that brought us here

Protected by Rongomai the tui, the patu, the kumara you gave us

And all the while tiny diamonds in the sky reveal seven gems

While earth makes her turns and we read the signs she shows us

By Night sky we are shown the way to finding ourselves

And an ancient mystery is solved in a scientific language

The constant re-occurrence keeps us sharp to your oratory

And I hear you now in the wind that blows us your words

We are the descendants of the Star Gazers, the Amazing eyes

Now look at one another and see the stars of this earth with delight.

(c) TraceyTawhiao2011

The Taupo Museum

Sitting in the Taupo Museum

Wondering where Tama-o-hoi got to

Shusssh  … Just saying his name might stir him

You stay asleep in a dream taniwha

Where smelling us is disabled

Eat the bones of your own discontent

Sitting in the Taupo Museum

Under the perfect new moon

With signs of love all over the walls

Stars of wonder so bright

If all the worlds lights go out

You will still be able to see us

Grow to the top of your mountain

Look out over your lakes and oceans

Over your lands get over yourself

Petty quarrels play no part in this magic

This starry place we call our ancestor

Bows to all the choices we make in the dark

And without even seeing the stars

I know this years seven shows us

The biggest harvest we’ve had in a long time

Multiplication is a triangular edged sword

And Mono-culture is something to avoid

Clusters bring clusters of bugs that destroy

Those stars can only speak the truth

Good luck is a poor mans magic so

Bow to the heavens that made you

Sitting in the Taupo Museum

Reading myths and legends about who we are

As if we are no longer here but look here we are.

(c)TraceyTawhiao 2011

One of YOU

Does anyone mind if I talk about the PR problems for Hone Harawira

How the media pounce on the nearest hint of what they already believe

Because the demon has to be identified to make the good guys look better

Maori versus Maori is only as true as the Dog eat dog world we all live in

Because black versus white is such a well known universal sound bite

There are lies calling themselves a story and storytellers calling themselves reporters

Scientists can tell you that lies are an equation where x equals fear

And Artists are painting and sculpting a world that fears nothing

One lie spreads like wild fire and before you know it truth is a democracy

Based on untold misrepresentation for the fueling of more fear

Hold my hand and walk with me along this uneven windy road

Bin Laden is dead but that’s ok cos now we can fear Hone Harawira instead

My god the man can’t even go to France for a good time let alone a killing spree

No amount of PR can fight the racial prejudice and colonial fear-mongering

Using the reliable and expendable Native to blame for everything wrong

Two hundred years of philanthropic erasure but look Hone is still here

Political PR is so wrong … why try and shine a shit and shit on a shine

We all pay for believing in fear created by words without integrity to truth

Now the poor are poorer and there is no end to the failure in that … a fact

In one poem I pay tribute to all fiction that is called fact, to fact that is called lie

To all lie we prefer to believe because nothing is what they said it would be

Hone Harawira is a brand being conjured from PR nightmares PR messes

Made by people talking to people about what they read and not what they know

When will PR ever be more than just a good show to make you believe

But don’t even believe I am a poet, by now you PR Guru’s know I am really

One of you.