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 14 February 202514 February 2025 · Poetry 9 to 5 Dave Drayton volunteer to clown / undermine an award / construct to heave / interfere in class / dismantle if civil / disregard no cause / freelance at ennui 1 13 February 202514 February 2025 · Reviews Echoing of the white gaze in Evie Wyld’s The Echoes Karen Wyld Wyld’s creation of voiceless-nameless-lifeless Blak people in The Echoes serves no narrative purpose. This novel is not truth-telling of invasion and occupation, and it does not envision justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Instead of rejecting or confronting lazy literary tropes and colonial-style narratives, the author has erased Blak voices, bodies, histories and futures, adding her own voice to a never-ending echo of white-gazed literature when silence would have been better.