A new poem by Wellington poet Anahera Gildea.

Separation anxiety

Healing comes with rhythm, dance
the folds of the land
               it matters how you tell a story
               that resists

breath is healing

exchange, recitation
a fusilade of calling
across the pae
for title extinguished
               lost children,
               a spittle of names
reunited by Te Kupenga

               shoulders healed by Rangi

words flung as line
to rope the heavy lifting of sorrow
and winch their way to the stars
               tight-fisted
               faults and protest
not display for dark tourism

               the healing is in the whenua

planted at the muscle of her belly
the abyss
under the rib cage, in the guts
drumming, thumping,
hīnātore in the eye

               it takes work

to wrench hope from story
is to seek where the trees have fallen
the provision of space
kia puananī ai ngā kākano e te hau –

               it is the feral and the ecstasy
               that heals
               the wildness of grief

He ruri tēnei mā matua Moana Jackson nā Anahera Gildea 2020

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed and will open again in early 2021.