Writing Wellington: Twenty Years of Victoria University Writing Fellows

1992 Alistair Te Ariki Campbell

1992 Alistair Te Ariki Campbell

Utu

1 Haunui

Haunui's the name—Big Wind,
    at your service. Caught them
        at it, didn't I? My woman
and Weku, my best mate—
    not any more, he's not.
        Trusted them, you know—him
and her who brought me so much
    pain. Caught them red-handed—if
        you'll pardon the expression—
at Waimapihi, a sacred spring
    whose waters immediately drained
        away for shame, for shame.

2 Weku

He'd a stupid grin, like he was
    making out some other lecher—
        may he rot in hell!—could
be the culprit. Should have
    heard the piwakawaka!
        The leaves concealing them
rippled with their merriment.
    Any other time I'd have
     not
when I'm sporting the pair
    of horns he put on me.
        Couldn't let it pass, could I?
when my pride and honour,
    yeah, and dignity
        as a man, were at stake.

4 Maui

He lolled against the archway
    to the Underworld, murmuring
        how Wairaka's ghost brushed
past him, eyes and mouth agape
    in a soundless scream. A liar
        he may have been, but he
wasn't all bad. Trying to abolish
    death at great personal
        risk showed real nobility,
but try telling that to the
    piwakawaka, who fell out of
        their tree with laughter,
when Hinenuitepo turned massively
    in her sleep, closed her thighs,
        crushing his skull like eggshell.

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell (b. 1925) has a long association with Victoria University throughout his career as a poet, playwright, novelist and autobiographer. He was a student when Mine Eyes Dazzle achieved early success in 1950, and his most recent volume of new poems, Death and the 'Tagua' , was published in a fine-print edition by the University's Wai-te-ata Press in 1996. Other significant titles include Wild Honey ( 1964), The Dark Lord of Savaiki (1980) and Pocket Collected Poems (1996). He was awarded an Honorary DLitt in Victoria University's Centennial Year, 1999.