My Mum’s Marae in Mt Eden

WORDS Briar Pomana (she/her)

My Mum’s apartment in Mt Eden is our marae My cousins and I use it as such At my Mum’s marae we practise our singing We spend one hour flicking through YouTube clips, (preferably with guitar chords included) One hour actually singing And two hours laid out marae style recovering.

My Mum’s neighbours at her apartment in Mt Eden don’t like us We wonder if they’ve ever done a pūkana We see them glaring at us from their balconies and decide to put on a show I grab my firmest poi and give them a spin How do you like that inconsistent beat? We decide to do Ka Panapana just for the lols

My Mum’s moving out of her apartment and possibly out of Mt Eden I just can’t imagine the walls without our toothless smiles Our makeshift ātea and atamira where we would dance silly The way Purea Nei on a shitty speaker would always make us cry Our cleanup crew putting away blankets, mattresses and cups of tea I think I’ll miss being a bad singing Māori at my Mum’s marae in Mt Eden