Blood Sky Island

You rose –
From the boiling sea

Hot rocks exploded –
into the atmosphere.

Fished land up –
from bloody ocean.

Waves of fire and steam
Watching Mahuika rise.

She pours lava into the Waitui Atea
Red and orange fill the gulf.

Two nights on this glorious rock
Showered from a basin – outside.

Childhood memories flooding back.
Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear.

My wife said –
This house reminds me of my grandmother

We sat outside and watched the full moon dance –
Till it disappeared behind clouds of grey.

Pele hid her pretty face –
Behind bloody skies

Summer breeze echo’s ancient chants
Of prisoner-built roads and oyster thieves.

We fished for history and tell-tale signs –
That only bare rocks could tell.

We gathered memories –
like harvesting seashells from wharf posts

We sat by the Hauraki Gulf –
On a starry night.

A taki glass between four of us –
Watching boats pass as we fished.

In summer –
This island is 3 degrees hotter.

The sun reflects off the water surface –
I felt my shoes burn.

I removed my shoes and dipped my feet –
In the cool water of the lagoon

This island –
Is Blood Sky Island.

Rangitoto Island.

Daren Kamali

Daren Kamali is a poet, curator, artist, musician, researcher and current Heritage Pacific Advisor at Auckland Libraries. Daren uplifts other communities through projects like South Auckland Poets Collective, Niu Navigations and SPACE (Street Artists and Poets Collective Enterprises).

Daren holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts, Manukau Institute of Technology (2014) and Master of Creative Writing (First Class Honours), University of Auckland (2017). He was the Fulbright/CNZ – Pacific Writer in Residence at University of Hawai’i (2012), and attended the International Writers program – Iowa City, USA (2014). His published works include Bringing back the forgotten ((Un) Registered Savages of Aotearoa, 2021); Vunimaqo and Me: Mango Tree Collections (Kava Bowl Media, 2020); Tales, Poems and Songs from the Underwater World (Anahera Press, 2011) and Squid Out of Water: the evolution (Ala Press, Hawaii, 2014). Daren has also released two albums Bula Aotearoa – Immigrant Story (2000) and Keep it Real (2005).