Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Thank you Apirana Taylor thank you for the nails thank you for the blankets thank you for the rum thank you for the tobacco thank you for your law thank you for your prisons thank you for smashing my language thank you for changing my family values all these things i no longer want thank you Apirana Taylor Apirana Taylor, Ngāti Porou, Te Whanau a Apanui and Ngāti Ruanui, is a nationally and internationally published Māori poet, short story writer, storyteller, playwright, novelist, actor and painter. He has been a Writer-in-Residence in New Zealand schools and universities. More by Apirana Taylor › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 1 6 November 2026 · Friday Fiction Headland Harry Goddard He must have still been sore. I could tell from the winces he made as he scooted down the trail. Some unspoken agreement of not hitting other people’s children — and the circumstances of me not being that type of kid — spared me from the same punishment. I was taken to my parents who agreed I would have to work off the damages, and I must have mowed the lawn once, or cleaned the family car. 4 November 2026 · Film MIFF, Minotaur and the politics of maternal reception Alicia Byrnes Maternal labour is, in the terms I’ve set out here, not labour at all. Noisy, unfocused, mobile, perhaps even sleepy — it is an affront to arthouse film viewing and therefore unserious.
