Ngā Hau e Whā: a found/heard poem

from the Octagon Poetry Collective’s monthly open mic night, 8th April 2026

We come from Ngā Hau e Whā:

From the north, we can’t get out of bed. We are tired shades of grey. We are vineyards of standing ovations. We are self introductions and messily doing PhDs.

We come from Ngā Hau e Whā:

Winds inconsistent from the west. We are calmly or tragically holding faith. We are forming intimacies and answers. We are the train girls running late for school and we are all missing our mums.

We come from Ngā Hau e Whā:

Southerly winds coughing and coughing with impending catastrophe. We are wiping the dust of our jobs off our hands, waiting for revolutions, roaring and soaring - yeah! 

We come from Ngā Hau e Whā:

From the east - we are all ignoring the official signs. We are vogue and glamour. We are using the screens of our minds, migrant windowsill cracks in the system, we are watching a video of the kelp in a translucent moon rockpool. We are wāhi taoka, talking and talking and talking, drifters and would-be poets. We are the listeners, the listeners, the listeners.

We come from Ngā Hau e Whā.

[A big mihi to the poets who read at tonight's Octagon Collective open mic, and especially to the two guest poets, Natasha Hope-Johnstone and Teoti Jardine. What a wonderful supportive space for poets in Ōtepoti. Kā mihi!]

Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks

08/4/2026, Ōtepoti: toikupu #8