all she wants is a Mermaid Barbie

Tangaloa mummified
in anglophile glass houses
lets out a dusty wheeze, quick,
get a symbolic plastic
instant plasma inoculation
against the contamination
of the old gods
Take this palagi goddess
to have and to hold
half fish, half woman
all synthetic, plastic flowers
infertile vaginas for her hair
like the ones you wear
is She
a new breed of afakasi?
See the Pacific swell
that’s Her, getting in the water
spilling over the tides
swallowing whole villages
with a queenly wave of one hand
treasure island
- paradise lost?
And is that it
have we lost?
Mermaid Barbie is
made from the same
clay mould of the
Mother, I am
squeezed into shape
pressed through
standardised issues
by the expanded forces
of new colonial
multinationals
stem celling our souls
for control
of demand
of demand
of control
All as beautiful
as a perfectly castrated
G.E. banana
The ancestors just smile at me
pretending to be a tourist
looking around like I can’t see
without sunglasses, concrete slides
on the bottom of my shoes, light shines
opaque in the grey water, a broken mirror
for your Snow White beauty myth
divided into parts that belong
and parts foreign, like Jiff and
toothpaste on your chin
sunlight soap in your eyes
You can’t wash out ‘till you look
bright, whitening out the pale
mulberry bark moon
combing your barbie wire
hair with forgetfulness
Did you remember how
to travel these stars
under the graves of the
ancestors long buried
I once opened a door,
my feet are doors
that fall through space
grabbing at nothing
asking what can I hold on to
what can I have to
hold on to, only this
or let go my
shelter of blood mass
bone and skin go feet first
falling through space
the stars are no different
from the points of light
in my face, that drip
iridescent
tears to the sea
which I am
holding
and letting flow

Danielle O’Halloran, 2003

The Loni and Roni Show

Published June 2003
Wholesale: $6.00; Retail $10.00
ISBN# 0-9582359-5-3
28 page catalogue, 11 colour plates

In recognition of the 2003 Pacific Arts Association Symposium in Christchurch, The Physics Room and curator Stephanie Oberg present ‘The Loni and Roni Show’, an exhibition in which artists Lonnie Hutchinson (Ngai Tahu / Samoan) and Veronica Vaevae (Cook Island / New Zealand) contemplate the Pacific. A lush publication accompanies the dynamic exhibition, featuring full colour documentation, poetry from Danielle O’Halloran and MC Anton Carter (Beats and Pieces), plus a critical essay ‘Enter the Pacific from Down Under’ by curator Stephanie Oberg.

The Loni and Roni Show and all other Physics Room publications are available from the gallery at 209 Tuam St in Christchurch, Parsons Bookshop in Auckland, or by mail order.

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