Aurora St
The younger boys went out fishing
With their Fathers and Uncle Lafaele
Returning from moana near the end of the day
With a catch to feed The Puikaiga:
From the sons of Great Grandfather Pahilio
To our father and his cousins
To their children (including me)
Even the friends of the Puikaiga
Aurora St is our family falepa
Uncle Lafaele’s house
Is at ga tai – near the water
His house is blue like the lagoon
Most of us had never seen a lagoon
We played in Daisy and Ake’s room
Or on the cute concrete front yard
So many of us we spilled out on to the road
Playing cricket
Having turns riding borrowed bikes
While our aunties and uncle
Played dominoes in the lounge
Their laughter would screech the walls
Our ears protected
Filled by our own stories
That Ene told us
And Lawrence told us
Then Caroline us
The little boys running across the Esplanade
Barefoot we follow after
To watch them come in
From the mouth of moana
Our dads jump out of the boat
Aluminium strong vaka
On Petone Foreshore
The older sons and their fathers
Heave it up to shore
In para rubber gumboots
And matching yellow raincoats
Bringing the boat in
Carrying the catch in
Uncle Lafaele directs them
To divide the catch
Amongst the Family
Inati
Into plastic shopping bags
Puikaiga has fish for tea tomorrow
And tonight we are all eating here
At Aurora St
