Ōpōtiki

My eyes drink
Parched
All the hills here are beautiful Except when covered in pines

It smells like
Honeysuckle
Sap
And tar
Outside my marae
Cornfields rustling
And the promise of a harbour on the wind

Aroha Matchitt-Millar (Ngāti Rangitihi, Whakatōhea, Tūhoe) is a multimedia ringatoi Māori currently living in Pōneke. Having just finished her Masters in Māori Visual Arts Aroha uses writing as a way to convey her lived experience and connection to tīpuna. Aroha sits in a space influenced by the practices her tīpuna used, intrinsically passed down through whakapapa and held tight to the chest of her whenua in Ōpōtiki. Her mahi is a rats tail reclamation to climb te ara a Whaititiri and have a cuppa with her nan.

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