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Editorial Note: This poem twins a Māori legend of the pīwakawaka (New Zealand fantail) with an Irish myth concerning Diarmuid (son of Donn), and his half-brother (son of Roc) who was transformed into the Great Boar of Ben Bulben. The title and first two opening lines are quoted from Joy Harjo’s poem “For Alva Benson, And For Those Who Have Learned to Speak.”