1772 c/o Stacey Teague

Pic Mascarin


i took of photo of you with mt taranaki
framed the shot so that your head
was as big as the mountain

the photo is lost forever
on a dead iphone somewhere

maori say that centuries ago
mt. taranaki ran away from the other mountains
tearing deep wounds into the earth as he went

he now stands alone

a friend once told me on a train platform
that being alone is easier

it's important what friends say to you
drunk on train platforms

---

seeing mt taranaki
after hours of driving
its conical peak decorated with snow
that not even the summer heat could melt away

i imagine what the french explorers must have felt
before setting anchor into the ocean

to conquer a land that wasn't theirs
only to be killed by the maori

it is fair enough i think

it was a small victory

a warning

---

we walked up a pathway next to a river
mt taranaki rising up above the trees

it watched over us
as we sat with our feet in the icy river
our skin turning red from the hole in the ozone

---

in this landscape i am both native and trespasser
maori and european

this dual feeling of being
stays with me where ever i am