Tidelines

Sometimes I go back to where it
all ended for me, to where it
all began. They named the
cliff face after me – Te Ahua-o-
Hinerangi. The gulls still circle
there, the rata still blooms,
all the threads of my story
still cling to the grasses and
tuapuke.

Tidelines interweaves the poet’s own life with the tragic story of Hinerangi, who lived at Karekare in the distant past. These are poems of Auckland’s west coast, reflecting the steady rhythms of daily existence, alongside grief, mental unwellness, disintegration and resolution.

Kiri Piahana-Wong is a poet, editor and publisher. Her previous publications are Night Swimming (Anahera Press, 2013) and (as co-editor) Te Awa o Kupu (Penguin Random House, 2023).