‘the mist that obscures’
© Rangihīroa Panoho, 2020-2024. No part of this document (text or imagery) is free to be copied, plagiarised or shared for publication or for uses neither intended nor agreed on by the author without his express permission. Details for writing to the author are as follows: blueskypanoho@icloud.com
Dear Ranginui.
I heard that the mist is
your tears mourning separation
over aeons from your lover – Papa.
It’s a comological story
And yet still you shower us with your heart
I hear the tangi across St Lukes
when you send a river
like Tāhū-o-te-rangi
across the sky?
You are the painter that rides the clouds with prussian blue
and with one calligraphic stroke
throws cadmium white into the air.
talcum brush
puff
kohukohu ‘mist’ –
as if
to break the silence
and to announce
yours is the better korowai for Papa.
better than the concrete shroud
the blanket of tar sporting
warpaint
arrows and lines
letters and hieroglyphics
three tall pylons,
and a couple of billboards
that quietly inject steel legs
into the skin
of the local carpark.
