Na Noke

This piece was first performed on the Cancel Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Virtual Exhibition in 2022.

Weaved together by rims of fresh coconut-leaflet

We call it a fire fountain bag

An immeasurable depth

Bubu’s voice, a mixture of delight and pride

As she lovingly gifts to me my first home work (pun intended)

Like hot-stones, I felt the heat of every word flowing from her

"Na noke, the earth's bread

Na noke, the oyster's bed

Na noke, the resting place for our head"

 Her soft voice and wrinkled smile enveloped with directions

 Mo lai ca-buka,

Mo lai canuma mai na sasalu ni Waitui

Mo lai vili niu

 I watched her bubu hands carry the noke for decades

She gently straps it on me,

Beautiful kesa designs printed on the sides

Memories-of and memories-from and a proverb guide

“the largeness of we in a tide is stronger than a tide in a we”

 Like a basin, our noke, a storage for firewood, raw fish and family

Her pale grey hair and sleepy eyes laid to rest.

 Bubu,

Our noke is heavy on my back

The fire fountain that keeps us warm

Is at war with the flame burning our feet

 An unwelcome burst

An exhibition of forced injection

Wrapped in disconnection and deception

Dressed up as “special operations for human protection”

 Bubu would say,

We look back to look forward

 Our noke,

A home for living creation and their generations

A combination of determination and willful migration