A month today, how is that possible?
I wash your floors clean your loo then sit in your māra
the one we replanted yesterday thinking of you soon I will
be gone from here with only memories of you in this place
I have no compass for this path but oceans of tears
and landscapes of kōhatu sit in my puku a dreadful dead weight
Te Reo Māori words: māra: garden, kohatu: stones, puku: stomach
Iona Winter (Waitaha) is the author of three collections of poetry and hybrid fiction: Gaps in the Light (2021), Te Hau Kāika (2019), then the wind came (2018). Widely published and anthologised internationally, her work has been performed solo and in collaboration with multimedia artists. Iona is currently working on a creative non-fiction project addressing the complexities of being suicide bereaved, and lives in Dunedin, New Zealand.
October in your māra – Iona Winter
December 18, 2022 | 11:18 pm
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Lynda
January 1, 2023 | 2:19 am
Awfully poignant words as always Iona. Where, indeed, are our sons?
Mary
January 30, 2023 | 1:31 am
Yeah no compass for this journey eh, and we all have different maps in our hearts. Thank you for sharing this beautiful, heart wrenching poem Iona. I tangi with you xx