MoĢteateaĀ
Iona Winter
The moĢteatea enclosed in my chest
aches to be releasedāØ
tangi te mapuāØ
I must draw breath
Silently I witnessāØ
peopleās meaningless wordsĀ
render mine unspokenāØ
āIām sorry for your lossāāØ
What the fuck does that mean?Ā
I wish they would stopĀ
New lava etchesāØ
across my heartāØ
joining solidified tracksāØ
of those before youāØ
did youĀ know that my teardropsĀ
contain all of the oceans?Ā
The moĢteatea enclosed in my chestĀ
aches to be releasedāØ
tangi te mapuāØ
I must draw breathĀ
I want to call you backāØ
from wherever you have goneĀ
weāre not done yetāØ
you didnāt give me timeāØ
but I see PapatuĢaĢnukuāØ
now greets your bonesĀ
You are in meāØ
our handsāØ
all of our mothersā handsāØ
are kaĢkano-womb-seed remindersĀ
that scratch at my bellyāØ
like a ngaĢngara tailĀ
The moĢteatea enclosed in my chestĀ
aches to be releasedāØ
tangi te mapuāØ
I must draw breathĀ
MÅteatea, by Åtepoti-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.Ā 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.Ā
For more information and to view documentation of the exhibition, click here.
Iona Winter is of MÄori (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.
