trout

I couldn't handle

Jacq Carter

I couldn't handle
'Parihaka'1

I had to
make my apologies
and get the hell out of there

even though

getting the hell out of there

meant trying to find some comfort
in the bricks of a city square

mind you
there were those iron nikau over there

and now that I think about it

there wasn't any clay clinging to them.2

1  The exhibition of the same name commemorating events at Parihaka, Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi's peaceful village, prior and subsequent to its invasion by colonial forces.

2  A reference to a translation of one of Te Whiti o Rongomai's whakatauaki, rendered in Maori, e kore te uku e piri te rino. The translation is 'clay will not cling to iron' and is understood to suggest that just as wet clay will not cling to iron when it dries the trappings of the Pakeha adopted by Maori at that time will be cast off by their descendents at some stage in the future.