Let's not build a film museum

 Welcome to Middle Earth. Here’s Hobbiton. Here’s Rivendell. Here’s a massive fuck-off dragon. Here’s a battle scene. Here’s a circle-jerk of Teutonic myth. Here’s Siegfried fifty-seven ways. Here’s a battle scene. Here’s the jeweler who made the Ring. Here’s Bret McKenzie in elf ears. Here’s the Mangawhero, leading into Mordor. Here’s a battle scene. Here’s Tangi-te-keo, where the hobbits hid. Here’s Pelennor Fields, near the pā of Te Rauparaha. Here’s the River Anduin, easier to say than Waiau. Here’s another history for you to swallow instead of your own. Here’s a battle scene. Here’s a battle scene. Here’s a battle scene.

 Zoë Higgins is a Pākehā poet of Swiss and British descent, living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. ‘Let’s not build a film museum’ was originally written for the collaborative art installation 101 Rants, produced by Marcus McShane.