Writing

Mōteatea by Iona Winter Written by Iona Winter

Tāite 16 Ākuhata

Thursday 16 August

2018

Mōteatea 

Iona Winter

 

The mōteatea enclosed in my chest

aches to be released


tangi te mapu


I must draw breath

 

Silently I witness


people’s meaningless words 

render mine unspoken


‘I’m sorry for your loss’


What the fuck does that mean? 

I wish they would stop 

 


New lava etches


across my heart


joining solidified tracks


of those before you


did you know that my teardrops 

contain all of the oceans? 

 


The mōteatea enclosed in my chest 

aches to be released


tangi te mapu


I must draw breath 

 


I want to call you back


from wherever you have gone 

we’re not done yet


you didn’t give me time


but I see Papatūānuku


now greets your bones 

 


You are in me


our hands


all of our mothers’ hands


are kākano-womb-seed reminders 

that scratch at my belly


like a ngāngara tail 

 


The mōteatea enclosed in my chest 

aches to be released


tangi te mapu


I must draw breath 

Mōteatea, by Ōtepoti-based writer and poet, Iona Winter, responds to the 2018 exhibition, What should I do now, with my hands? by Melbourne-based practitioner, Beth Caird featuring work by Faith Wilson. This exhibition bought together Caird’s continuation of a focus on grief processes and life-after-death experiences, self-made myths and the truth buried under fabrications. 

Iona Winter is of Māori (Waitaha) and Celtic descent, and lives on the East Otago coast. Her short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in many New Zealand and international publications. The recipient of the 2016 Headland Frontier Prize, she has performed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and in 2018 was shortlisted with the Bath Novella-in-Flash Award. Passionate about Aotearoa, Iona writes in hybrid forms that highlight the intersection between written and spoken word. Through a profound connection with nature she weaves past, present and future, traditional and contemporary, to create a bicultural melding of the worlds she inhabits.

Iona Winter