Nancy Brunning: 'the Totally Wonderful Eyes That Challenged Me With Aotearoa Dishonoured...' Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

My audio and video channels got mixed up.
I started trying to listen to a podcast
On Nancy Brunning the Maori actress who has just died
And it got drowned out by a clip from
‘A Spoonful of Sugar' with David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns
Waltzing around about making the ‘medicine go down
In a most delightful way'.

And I missed the talk with Nancy that honoured her mana as a
Te Wahine Rongonui (a woman of tremendous influence and talent)
Of the time when her people were starting to overcome their bitter past:
Bastion Point, Dame Whina Cooper's Hikoi …
And the Rugby Tour Riots for decency over matching our beloved All Blacks
Against the Racist Springboks from Apartheid South Africa in 1981.
I couldn't go back and listen - it would have broken my heart.

Ka rongo i te ia o te aroha, he ngākau māhaki:
Being genuine is everything in matters of the heart.

I'll just remember Nancy on the Number One Bus
Into Town taking her little daughter to childcare
Getting off at Macdonalds on Adelaide Road
And her extraordinary and totally wonderful eyes
That challenged me with Aotearoa dishonoured.