Noho Mai – Given Poems 2021 – Under-16s

Here is our selection of the entries for Best Poem by Under-16s for the Given Words competition for National Poetry Day. They all had to include the following five words in either te reo Māori or English, or a mixture of the two: pō/dusk, hau/breath, tūpuna/ancestors, hiki/raise, and karoro/black-backed gull.


You can read the winning poem Eventide by Savarna Yang along with the judge's comments here and the poems from the adults' category here.

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The Hush

They decided to harvest the light
Picked it through the ceilings
Of mouldy tents
And washed their faces in stars
But always waiting for
The screams.

Breath was valued
More than any gold
Hanging on to an exhale
Seeing them raise up
Their chests
And exist.

The black-backed gulls
Would mimic the planes
That swept the sky
Clear of clouds
And left only
Destruction in their wake.

The dusk rolled in
Days grew longer
And the restlessness
Threatened to snap.
Their children joined
Their ancestors.

And they
Joined the ranks.

Thalia Peterson, aged 14
Leeston

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A Bridge of Smoke

At the cemetery
my Năinai burns red envelopes
brimming with paper money.

She lights incense, a bridge of smoke
raising colours of dusk to where my ancestors
float between clouds.

In my envelope,
is a drawing of a karoro
I brought from Aotearoa.

I take a deep breath
and throw it on the flames,
where it crackles and burns away.

We pay respect to our ancestors,
bow three times, then
look up to the hazy sky.

Karuna Yang, age 10
Mt Maungatua, Otepoti, Dunedin

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The Wings of Dusk

The karoro wheels high above the harbour,
the cloak of dusk tied to its feet
slowly dragging the stars into the sky.
It soars upon the hau of our ancestors,
each of them gifting their own farewells
their eyes watching over us—
jewels in the dusk-cloak.
if you raise your eyes to the heavens,
you will see their love,
and the karoro continuing its eternal journey

Tessa Smith, aged 14
Dunedin

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Dusk’s dark fingers raise
The breath of the ancestors
As black-backed gulls fly

Daniel Lovewell, Age 12
Masterton

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October
In memory of Jack Cutelli

how you laughed/
reminded me of a pink sunset at dusk.

how you cried/
would keep me awake at night, sucking the life out of me

how you remembered/
you tupuna, i could raise my glass to that.

your love for your younger one,
you were gorgeous: concentrating on your battered, fragmented breath/

i could smile with joy,
now I smile joylessly.
the karoro flew over me that day,
i lied to your face sure

but i was too late.

Your/
smile/
shook/
me/

hey i know it was hard.
that October,

but it was hard for me too:
i broke down when i found out,

too.

Lola Fisher, aged 12
Whanganui

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The Karoro

The karoro
was always her favourite.
Decades of dreaming
she could soar,
cutting through the sky.
She was a believer.
But dusk was coming
to collect her.
Stars sang,
and for the first time,
she could hear them.
She let out
a goodbye breath,
and her beautiful soul
flew through her parted lips.
The wind
would raise her soul
to the songs
of her ancestors,
the stars,
and she would be free
to soar
and cut
through the skies,
and her beautiful soul,
the karoro,
flew on.

Priya Bartlett, aged 12
Christchurch

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Thawed

it’s Thursday and no one is here
the streets lay bare, the raised hesitance
in unnecessary commotion is only natural.

the black-backed gulls no longer hum
for the breath of dusk; its dead infants
once whined contently, nourished in polyethylene.

how far beyond the due date
until we notice declines of our own sanity?
worthless words with minimal actions,
impure oceans sway futile;
like mourning ancestors.

Amor Budiyanto, Age: 15
Cashmere Highschool, Christchurch

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Breath of Dusk

Breath of dusk
hold its silence,
she watches the waves
in
out
in again,
foaming in the
dark cold
the whispers of her ancestors
soft grains of sand
press into her scaled feet
she raises her feathers to the sky
and takes flight
the black-backed gull makes her journey
into the
night.

Olivia Adams, aged 12
School for Young Writers, Christchurch

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Together

My mum and I
saw a black-backed gull
at dusk

We were with our ancestors —
Mum was cooking kai,
her breath fast with joy,
as we raised up our eyes to see
Pōhutakawa (the Matariki star)

We were amazed
as the gull glided over the stars
and landed near us
and we ate together

Leo Wardell, aged 5
Dunedin

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Haere rā

At the dusk of their lives
The breath of tūpuna enters the waves
Kua hinga te tōtara o te wao nui a Tāne

Karoro burdened to raise those left behind

Wings of the forgotten
His cries resound against the cliffs

Released under te marama
Dappled by the light
Aere ma te meitaki e te au

Ava Heath Williams, aged 11
Christchurch

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Dusk

The karoro swoops at dusk over the sea
Its back as black as night
Their flight carrying them to the shore

As dusk falls the pekapeka-tou-roa flies out of the cave
Wings outstretched as it glides
Their breath leading them to some prey

The cries of the ruru carry over the forest at dusk
Teaching its young to glide high
Their ancestors wings raising them higher

Noah Grossmith, aged 14
Christchurch

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Pohutukawa Island

The branches of the
lone Pohutukawa tree sway
in the warm ocean winds.

The sky fades to
dusk as a Karoro
soars above the
isolated island.

The bird’s wings
raise it higher
into the air.

A small waka lands
on a soft-sanded beach.

A man lifts a small
wooden urn from
the bottom of the
waka and approaches a
cave.

He places the box on a
rock and whispers a
prayer to his tupuna.

He pushes the canoe
back into the water
and his breath curls up
into the cold air, as he
paddles away from
the gravesite.

Harris Steel, aged 15
Christchurch

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The Rain and the Black-backed Gull

When the days are cloudy and cold, the rain comes.
When sheep are shorn and herded inside, the rain comes.
It blankets all in sorrow, and washes away all left unsecure.
It raises the dusk and clouds the breath of the lone black-backed gull.
Her ancestors had felt the salt on their feathers the way she does.
She lets out a call, a call from the heart.
It swirls around the rain, heating up intensely.
The gull set the rain on fire.

Lucy Penney, aged 9
Christchurch

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dusk is near and no one’s ready

a tradition
passed on from ancestors
we can’t stop now
the last light falls

I push - boat towards cool water
sand trickles in my shoes
all my strength

I raise - gaze to the horizon
ten seconds left of light
a release

weightless

I jump – the boat my cradle
black-backed gulls fly
distil the water
make ripples
shimmer in the last glimpse of light

My breath - cold air numbs my throat
sailing to catch the sun.

Hannah Burnett, 14
St Andrew’s College, Christchurch

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