aotearoa inc
after mohamed hassan
at thy feet, in the bonds of love
ground control to ranginui e tū iho nei
i’m done guarding the pacific star
it reeks like praying to politicians
or noticing that waitī is looking
like cowshit in my hautapu
hear our praises left choking
on the oil drip, how desperate
we are to say thank you
for something worth thanking
more than rugby my guts
are clogged with residential
developments with names like
westwood heights or the dale
god of nations by whom i
mean hinepūtehue from the
shafts of gourd please play
us a new song now, in their
language if you have to, in
whatever code they’re switching,
hi-vis harikoa in the meadow
fonterra boys promoting
clean waterways on tv is making
me wanna say every creed and
every race but their one, and i
wish tall poppies on them,
and i wish all the children
of the ngahere on us
asking thee to bless this place
by whom i mean tāne
who pushed apart his parents
like a kid being uplifted
and he meant for light
and he meant for this to be un-hinged
and what he got was economic growth
and what he got was fast tracked
102 billion dollars in savings
but not to be spent on saving us,
still rationing the queens veges and
asking for a refund
the cost of saying land back is the same price
as a karakia when you have to ask for it, god defend
our free wheeling and dealing god defend
us all from the politicians who don’t want to pay
and god defend the damaging pests
that we don’t have the budget to control
and god defend the politicians who are
also the damaging pests and
god by which i mean papa defend
anyone who’s looked extinction in the eye
and said why are you looking at me like that
Isla Huia
from Āta, Dead Bird Books Publishers, 2026
This poem is from my latest collection, Āta, which has just been released by Dead Bird Books. I think this poem still resonates strongly for me because the kaupapa is so relevant to our current situation, nationally, in the lead-up to the election. I was so taken by Mohamed Hassan’s poem of the same name, and the way he captured the ironies and contradictions between our political messaging and our treatment of Papatūānuku. I hope that my own version can put words to the feelings so many of us are reckoning with, and can do justice to Hassan’s original.
Isla
Isla Huia (Te Āti Haunui a-Pāpārangi, Uenuku) is a kaituhi based in Ōtautahi. Her debut collection of poetry, Talia, was released in May 2023 by Dead Bird Books, and was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her second collection, Āta, has just been released. She has been published in journals and anthologies across Aotearoa including Ōrongohau Best New Zealand Poems, Takahē, Catalyst and Short | Poto. Huia is the current recipient of a Te Tumu Toi Arts Foundation Springboard Award, under the mentorship of inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh.
