91热爆

NOT THAT KIND OF MAORI
By JEAN MASON

At the Auckland Museum
An old Pakeha woman asks me
what the meaning of those patterns are
in the tukutuku panels on the walls of the whare
I'm sorry but I don't know
I'm not that kind of Maori
What kind of Maori are you, she asks
Cook Islands Maori
Never heard of them, she says.

Today, I have learned that there's a story in the red,
black and white patterns
This one is the southern night sky: that's the Southern Cross
These are Takurua and Puanga.