Our taonga contain a multitude of mātauranga Māori and philosophies, connecting us to the land and the histories of our ancestors. Whakapapa is a way of telling the stories of taonga Māori through relational positioning of how we came to be. I spent time at Te Whare Taonga o Waikato - Waikato Museum, to understand what it is like for our taonga to be in these foreign spaces, which led me to come up with these questions - what stories are they telling, who’s telling the stories, and if our taonga live in the museum, how does that shape Māori relations to taonga? The creation of my poem is how these questions came about during my experience. My whakapapa to Te Winika, the traditional waka taua or war canoe and many of the taonga that live in Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, is the foundation to why I chose to do this research. This carries a responsibility as a Kaitiaki, to my tupuna, our people, and generations to come, to look after our taonga, connect the links through shared whakapapa, and keep their stories alive.