toikupu #25, 2026

Talking of Michelangelo

No, I have not met Michelangelo.

No, I have not counted how many teeth I have to see if I have a fifth upper incisor.

I have not visited the Sistine chapel, have not stepped foot in Europe let alone Florence, have not marveled at any huge nude marble figures there

or counted their teeth.

All I know of Michelangelo is from what G****e has told me of Italian art history, and maybe it is not all entirely true.

But sometimes I still wonder:

if a statue could feel would it sense itself waking, effervescent, like from dental surgery on general anaesthetic, as it is carved from the stone?

Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks

25/4/2026, Ōtepoti: toikupu #25