Isla Huia – in the blood

Huia LE P&W 3 Nov-Dec 2024

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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Three November-December 2024

Aotearoa Poets and Writers Special Edition

in the blood, poems by Isla Huia.


in the blood

i.
after i’ve gone to the dirt
bellied up and crossed the jordan
dropped the body, freed the horses

i’m gonna be an enigma
i’m gonna get the eternal choir
doing nei rā te kaupapa, but gospel

i want it to sound like
giving a mouthpiece to sundown.

ii.
my kui only believed
she was being sent for abraham’s bosom
when it started raining through the roof

we sang fish are jumping, cotton is high
made ourselves into rhinoceros with the rose thorns
forgot the flooded carpet, turned the lights out.

iii.
when i meet the great beyond
i’m gonna give it a whole pōwhiri
i’m gonna make sure it mihis to the ringawera

i’m gonna share my hakari with the dogs
i’m gonna say auē, e moko, and moko’s gonna say
nanny, can you teach me how to fly?

or how to not put anything smaller
than my elbow in my ear canal?

or how to drink ensure while talking
about peace and clarinets and
bronchial asthma and spa baths?

when i’ve given up the ghost
i hope he’s whāngai’d out

when i meet the vast majority
i hope they’re brown
i hope we’re in a valley
i hope my hair has grown back

that the jaws are too weak to bite down
that the GPS says calculating route home.

iv.
makers, make me a machine
or at least, the kind of tīpuna who can predict
a set of twins, who has the lullabys on lock
who has both hands on the wheel
and tikanga on the post-its

this is the kaupapa of forever
i’m gonna massage out the comedowns
i’m gonna clap til the genes settle in
i’m gonna tell you about the government

i’m gonna give you an unpopular opinion
and i’m gonna pluck the guitar string
in the middle of the night

watch it vibrate
notice the kererū
admire its fat.

v.
i’m gonna be cctv
on the wrong side of the grass
watching out for all your gold

your mānuka hearts
the blood i gave you
the tohu i always will

e moko,
all you’ve gotta do
is open your arms.

i’ll be waiting
in the wings.


© Isla Huia

Isla Huia (Te Āti Haunui a-Pāpārangi, Uenuku) is a te reo Māori teacher and kaituhi from Ōtautahi. Her work has been published in journals such as Catalyst, Takahē, PŪHIA and Awa Wāhine, and she has performed at numerous events, competitions and festivals around Aotearoa. Her debut collection of poetry, Talia, was released in May 2023 by Dead Bird Books, and was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024. The books opening poem, ‘Wetlands’, was chosen for the Ōrongohau Best New Zealand Poems 2023.

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