Niue: John Pule

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The Hurricane Love Songs 1. I now chance the night to write a song that wanders in the personality of mist koromiko slipping out of unwanted clothes drops of water shaped like lit candles If I was If I was to tell you If I was to tell you that I was born without a bird pecking at my teeth the kowhai at the precious windows, a field of yellow light and jocular roads ending at my eyes would you believe me? Then it is settled I came to these shores barely able to reach the belly of my mother. My feet already clad in soil with a history of the koho and the smell of tyres, a futureless beach at the end of the journey a junction full of ships and floral dresses as I am carried off the vessel to stand on a platform rained on in the night. I have since studied my hands one side is white as the moon a soft illusion curled at the lips the other side is dark as your eyes Never mind I keep telling myself I have grown up here in a certain uncomfortable space my shadow casts a question on the secret air If I should drop everything I had found at the door From Whetu Moana, ed Wendt, Whaitiri, Sullivan, Auckland University Press, 2003