Summer reissue: poet essa may ranapiri says this review is one of the hardest things they’ve written. First published 10 February 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn more about how you can support us from as … Read more
As we emerged, blinking, from the first lockdown, essa may ranapiri said they might write a response to the wonderful poetry published by Māori writers over that strange time. They did not want the work “dumped in the world and forgotten” – they wanted it seen, held high, lit up. Here is that piece. He … Read more
A poem from essa may ranapiri’s chapbook Polemic. Hook & Cook as a kid I would confuse Captain Hook with Captain Cook their names so similar both pirates in fancy dress one scared of a crocodile with a clock in its mouth the other a man who sails on our 50 cent one a cartoon … Read more
This powerful collection of photographs and essays catalogues three generations of Ngāti Torehina ki Matakā learning to pelt North Island kiwi. Nāu, nā te Pākehā te kurī me te ngeru nāna i huna ngā kai o te motu nei, te weka, te kiwi, te kākāpō, te piopio, me te tini o ngā manu o te … Read more
Poet essa may ranapiri says this review is one of the hardest things they’ve written. I spend two months with this book, following Witi Ihimaera’s journey, I see car tyres in country roads I see tears on lover’s faces, I feel the beating of the heart, as it strains against the western paradigm of heteronormativity. … Read more
A new poem by Kirikiriroa poet essa may ranapiri. Kae and the Tohorā did u think of the taste of his blubber even as u sat upon his great mammal form ? think of unmasking the slip of his great flippers that churn the salt troth of the sea … Read more
New verse by Kirikiriroa writer essa may ranapiri. what the poem isn’t allowed to do the poem isn’t allowed to say abolish the police abolish the police abolish the police return their uniforms to the dirt and their sirens to the odyssey tie a leash to a grenade and send it off teach it how … Read more