Hangi Memoir by Caleb Mck

The ash flickered in the sky with the little red embers.The steam filtered the sky into a greyish colour. The smoke whispered past my face like a leaf blower.I looked at the steam as it evaporated into the misty light fog.The sticks burst into burning red flames.The river stones exploded with steam, the steam flew into the misty sky.The heat blew into everyone faces and boiled them into hot red soup.The embers glowed like Matariki stars in the dawn light.                                                                                                                

The tough men pulled the hot train track rails and the river stones into the deep black blank hole. The men's faces dripped bucket loads of sweat as they lifted the crates of food into the hole.The cabbage leaves leaked water like the mens faces.

I glared into the hangi. My eyes fluttered from the ash. The smoke rose. The sun fell through. The embers flickered and flared like the Matariki stars times ten. As the rags dived onto the pit they sizzled until they looked like an old prune.

As I walked away I wondered how long the train tracks and the river stones would last.