If a tapa cloth lives in a museum is it a ghost in a drawer?

New book Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth features a poem by Doron Riku-Semu about a cloth that lives in Te Papa.

Sad piece of cloth: FE008176

I’ve been left in the dark, where the sun will never kiss me again. Sometimes strangers ask to visit, and I let them, but my minders say, ‘be gentle’.

Who told them I’m heartbroken?

I used to touch your skin, and everyone knew me as yours. Lou (like your family), not lau (like some friend). Not part-time, but permanent.

God, I miss you. I miss your touch.

In my dreams, we wear each other again.

My body folds with every one of your creases, and I take shape as we shift together.

I’ve adorned no man since you.

I’ve been left empty.

I didn’t attend your funeral, I only heard whispers of the ugly-other they lay beside you. ‘Throw me in the grave!’ I pleaded while being carried on the ship. ‘Let me warm the man who grows cold!’ I wept as they tucked me away, safe, for new eyes to lay on.

I’m a ghost in a drawer, only occasionally pulled out of my haunt. The curator says, ‘Uhhh, yeah, we don’t know much about this piece’ when asked, but that’s because he doesn’t know you.

If he asks, I’ll tell him of you.

O le ‘ie ‘ie fa‘anoanoa: FE008176

Ua faanofo a‘u i le pouliuli, e lē o toe sogi mai ai le lā ia te a’u. O nisi taimi e fesili ai ni tagata ese pe aisea, ma ‘ou faatagaina, ae fai mai a‘u tausimea, ‘ia faaeteete ma lemū’.

O ai na tā‘ua iai ua nutimomoia lo‘u loto?

Sa masani na ou tago i le pa‘u o lou tino, ma iloa e tagata uma o a‘u o lau lea. Lo‘u (e pei o lou aiga), e lē o la‘u (e pei o se uo). E lē faavaitaimi, ae tumau.

Auē, ua ou misia oe. Ua ou misia lou pa‘i mai.

I a‘u moemitiga, ta te toe ofu faatasi. E gagau lo‘u tino i au gauga taitasi, ma maua ai o‘u foliga a o ta fesiitai faatasi.

Sa ou lē teuteuina se isi tamaloa talu oe.

Ua tuua gaogaoina a’u.

Ou te le‘i alu i lou maliu, ua na o na ou fa’alogo i femusuaigao le isi auleaga sa taoto i au talane. ‘Velo a‘u i le tu’ugamau’ Sa ou tauanau a o amo a‘u i luga o le vaa. ‘Tuu a‘u e faamafanafana le tamaloa ua maalili’ O la‘u tagi auēuē a o teu ita, e sauni, mo nisi mata e vaai iai.

O a‘u o se agaga i totonu o se pusa, ua na o na fa’avaitaimi ona aumai i fafo mai lo‘u fanoga. Fai mai le tausi o lenei measina, ‘Aaaa, ia, e le tele somatou iloa i lenei ‘ie‘ie’ pe a fesiligia, ae ona e na te le iloa foi oe.

Afai e fesili, ou te ta‘u iai e uiga ia te oe.

This poem was extracted from Tapa: Pacific Histories in Cloth ($95, Te Papa Press) by Nina Tonga, Rachel Yates and Sean Mallon. It is is available to purchase at Unity Books.