Quote by Hone Tuwhare: “I can hear you making small holes in the silence, rain.”

Rain doesn't just fall — it sounds. And silence isn't nothing — it is a texture that can be broken into. This is extraordinary attention to the natural world, the kind of listening that happens when you are fully present. It shows that even quiet moments are full of small, beautiful events.

Tuwhare published No Ordinary Sun in 1964, the same year New Zealand was becoming increasingly urbanised and Māori communities were migrating from rural areas to cities. The title poem protested nuclear testing in the Pacific, but his work also celebrated the intimacy of nature and the Māori relationship with the land.

New Zealand Māori poet of Ngāpuhi descent, celebrated for his deeply sensory and often playful engagement with nature and working-class life. His debut collection No Ordinary Sun, published in 1964, was the first solo poetry collection by a Māori author. He was named New Zealand's second Te Mata Poet Laureate in 1999.