Haere mai rā, e te manuhiri tūārangi ē
Koutou e ngā uri a ngā māta waka huri noa i te motu, huri noa i te ao whānui ē
Haere mai ki runga i a Mataatua, i a Te Arawa, i a Tainui, i a Horouta, i a Tākitimu, i a Ngātokimatawhaorua, i a Kurahaupō i te wā nei ē
Haere mai rā, haere mai rā, haere mai rā ē!

Mauria mai ngā mate kai runga i a koutou ē
Rātou kua huri ki tūā o te ārai ē
Kia tūhonohono ki ngā mate kai tēnei taha ē
Kia mihia
Kia tangihia

Haere mai ki runga i te kaupapa o te wā nei ē
Arā, ko te whai mōhio mo aku mahi i te ao kikokiko nei
Tae noa ki aku mahi i te ao tuhituhi i ngā rotarota me te ao tito i ngā waiata
Haere mai rā, haere mai rā, haere mai rā ē!

Tēnā koutou e aku rangatira. 

Ko Pūtauaki te maunga
Ko Ōhinemataroa te awa
Ko Ngāti Awa, ko Waitaha, ko Ngāi Te Rangi ngā iwi, me ngā hononga ki Ngāi Tai, ki Ngāti Maru, ki Ngāpuhi hoki. He uri hoki tēnei a ētahi i haere mai i Ingarangi, i Kōtimana, i Aerana hoki.
Ko Te Patuwai te hapū nō roto o Ngāti Awa,
Ko Ngāi Tūkairangi te hapū nō roto o Ngāi Te Rangi
Ko Jacqueline Carter tōku ingoa
Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

First and foremost I’m a poet and a māmā with two beautiful children who are most precious to me. I've written poetry since my last year of secondary school (1991) and composed waiata, firstly in English since I was little and in Te Reo Māori since my 20s. I completed a Master of Creative Writing at Waipapa Taumata Rau (the University of Auckland) in the summer of 2022-2023 and have published poems in several Aotearoa and international anthologies. A couple of my poems have become the lyrics for choral compositions by New Zealand composers David Hamilton and Janet Jennings (‘Pōwhiri’ and ‘Matariki’ respectively), and thanks to James Webster (Tainui, Te Arawa) and Moss Patterson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) my waiata ‘Whakatangitangi mai’ has been used in the New Zealand Dance Company’s production of ‘The Piano’ and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s ‘Horizon’.

I'm also a fully qualified Kaiako i te reo Māori (Māori Language Teacher) after working as a Kaiāwhina i te reo Māori (Māori Language Teacher Aide) and Teacher Aide in a number of schools and for several years prior to starting in my current full-time position at EGGS. I finished a Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) at the end of 2019 with Te Reo Māori as my primary teaching subject and Social Studies as my second.

I believe that every single person in Aotearoa New Zealand will benefit from knowing te reo Māori me ōna tikanga (the Māori language and its culture) and our Aotearoa New Zealand histories, and I believe that poetry, waiata, and other forms of storytelling and works of fiction and creative non-fiction can bring the latter to life in a way that moves people and therefore creates understanding and a willingness to make change for the better.

Mā te rongo ka mōhio
Mā te mōhio ka mārama
Mā te mārama ka mātau
Mā te mātau ka ora

Through perception comes awareness
Through awareness comes understanding
Through understanding comes knowledge
Through knowledge comes wellbeing

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

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