Kōrero: Taranaki region

Taranaki remembered

Taranaki remembered

Local writers David Hill and Elizabeth Smither published Taranaki, an introduction to the region, in 1987. In this poem, published in the book, Smither plays on ‘provincialism’, a word often used negatively, to draw an evocative picture of her home province. The book's equally evocative photos – including this one – were taken by Jane Dove.

Remembering provincialism

Somewhere where the air is thicker
And the dew more dense
With more unspokenness.

Somewhere where the soil is porous
Where the dew goes through
And the surface dries.

Somewhere where a mountain measures
All the sky it blocks
With nonchalance.

Somewhere where a sea comes in
Somewhere of little mien
But that little wins.

Somewhere where an image is
Attached to a thing
And is intimate.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Jane Dove Juneau Photography
Photograph by Jane Dove-Juneau

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Ron Lambert, 'Taranaki region - Arts and heritage', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/25346/taranaki-remembered (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Ron Lambert, updated 1 Aug 2015