KORINITI I liked the old house Sitting amongst the deserted flowers, The church, secure on the bank of the river. I closed my eyes … Thought how it would have looked When the woman missionary Whose memorial stands in the churchyard, Lived, worked, here. No roar of a jet boat, No shouts of young adventurers: Just a green forest, People sitting together on the porch of the mission, The creak of the gate as another friend arrives, Roses blooming in the sun, And the swirling river Flowing on by Just as it does, today. Cath Matthews

Whaaki by Arapera Molenaar I could see him from our driveway striding in and our of his house, shoulders bent forward, with his old straw hat set on his head and thought to myself … I'll go and see old Whaaki—he's always fun to talk to. So I dashed over the road, climbed the fence and trotted to where he was squatting. He was fixing a gaff for eeling. His chocolae brown hands roughened with outside work knew just what they were about. His face was one of those ageless yet time-worn masks that just don't have enough wrinkles to say I'm old and then again not enough softness to say I'm young. His hat sat flat on his head shading those grinning brown eyes. It was made of kiekie and looking old and worn unlike the owner, bits of straw hanging all round his face. Dangling from his lips was the ever constant companion, a cigarette. Looking down at the cigarette made me wonder if he really did smoke those things or whether he just chewed on them, because he rolled it from side to side biting and chewing as he worked, like it was a piece of straw. ‘Hello Whaaki,’ I greeted. He looked up at me and grinned, his whole face just beaming. ‘Kia Ora, Arapera. How you being? Too good on you coming to see me.’ He began to chuckle and say too good too good, again. It was a warm chuckle, just like when you placed kindling wood in the fire and then light it and it's cold outside yet the crackling wood seems to say, ‘come closer I’m warm and friendly even if the weather is cold.’ ‘Well, I just making now a gaff for the eeling, you sitting down while I just going inside for the knife, e Arapera. Too good