a glance

As we approach Waitangi Day I'm going to put some of my poems up - they relate to this day, they relate to me and they relate to today's world.

Waitangi day night

A queen sent emissaries

as I checked the rat trap

for a licker lover of

peanut butter inside the

ceiling of my whare

on Waitangi day night

That wasp stung me inside

my ear, I heard the vibrating

wings notch up but too

late my instinctual alarm

bell rang, too late for me

on Waitangi day night

Their paper home has grown

and my ear has swollen so i

cannot hear their voices

entreating the benefits of

a queen constantly begetting

on Waitangi day night

I huddle inside a fern now,

my old whare adorned with

photos of a queen, a tidal

current I see, head-high as

sweeping so clean, me

on Waitangi day night

a step closer

As we approach Waitangi Day I'm going to put some of my poems up - they relate to this day, they relate to me and they relate to today's world.

at waitangi once,

when Rangatira didn't

say go! wildeyed,

they wanted their land.

the good had gone,

dead, shot, sick or

sobbing. Breath to

breath they looked

at them, and they

walked away hungry.

approaching the trap

As we approach Waitangi Day I'm going to put some of my poems up - they relate to this day, they relate to me and they relate to today's world.

Sci fi colonisation

the first one arrived all

sun-spill and screaming

like a God. Somewhere

a parchment of pixels

was signed and they don't

talk to us anymore.

What have we loved?

To make ours into

theirs they came in numbers.

the bill for cringing

So the Prime Minister Bill English is not going to attend Waitangi Day. There is a very simple reason for this - one that he probably wouldn't admit - it is fear. 

Fear of Māori, fear of the Treaty, fear of the election coming up, fear of the rednecks haters not voting for him, and a personal fear - which is really just a lack of courage. First the facts

Speaking to media in Auckland, English said he had written to marae officials after being appointed prime minister to determine the conditions on his attendance. He had been told he would not be able to speak at the powhiri, a decision which he did not believe was appropriate for the leader of the country.

Now the truth

HatTip The Standard

and then this so called prime minister bill english says

"The marae committee has decided that the prime minister can't speak on their marae, and that as far as I'm concerned is not respectful of the role."We have the right to decide [whether to attend]...protocol is I don't have to go onto that marae if the arrangements aren't respectful for New Zealand and New Zealanders."While protests at Waitangi had been "nationally relevant" 15 to 20 years ago, that was no longer the case."A lot of New Zealanders cringe a bit on Waitangi Day when they see the way that the ceremonies are being conducted, the ceremonies and welcomes, the type of protest there has been in recent years, and I'm pretty keen that we have a day when they're proud."

So now we get to the real point.

He is playing to his audience and trying to be like johnnyboy key the EX Prime Minister. That is how weak and sad bill english is. And if perchance he isn't doing that then he is disclosing his bigotry. This is the supposed leader of the country where his ancestors got the ability to come here and exploit stuff because of the TREATY, because Māori let them. But oh know - he only cares about REAL NEW ZEALANDERS. That is racist and disgusting and that is why bill english has little mana and the little he had has just gone out the window. Tangata whenua see the weakness from this man and this government and shake their heads and say, "same as it ever was!"

the slippery snake slithers away

So key ran from Waitangi because he couldn’t be heard – good job I say and well done to the protestors, who at personal risk fronted him, and let him know in no uncertain terms what some of us feel about him. This protest was legitimate and necessary because the state and its representatives are treating tangata whenua disrespectfully as evidenced by the announcements this week of the proposed removing of clause 9 in the new legislation flogging off state assets and the job loses at TPK orchestrated by The Māori Party and the gnats.

Key wants to control the narrative and he wasn’t able to and that is great. This is the way to do it because his narrative oppresses Māori and reiterates inequality and unfairness. Some argue that it is better to be nice but where has nice got Māori?

Some argue it has played into key’s hands by solidifying support from middle NZ against horrid Māori but that doesn’t matter because they are already at that place. If it has played into his hands then THAT is what should be addressed – the fact that he has an anti-Māori agenda and sinister intentions towards tangata whenua. The protestors got it right by forcing the slippery snake to slither away.