TWENTY-FIVE

Sā Nafanua

 

(for my sisters)

 

patent leather boots

arms linked, we march together

in raggedy-assed lines, holes in our

sequined stocking / crooked at the seams

under rainbow-coloured tights and feather

cloaks / this band of warriors / your

frisky daughters, my dear /

at your service/ our weapons slung

across shoulder & hip / paintbrush & camera

laptop & lawbook / your freckled daughters /

after-jets burning away illusion / attachment/

clearing the channel for the birth

of ourselves & each other / your

gypsy daughters.

 

we move down to the sea;

our sons carry the boat

bringing coconut, breadfruit,

taro and papaya to plant the new land.

babies chortle at the breast

the bigger ones chasing sandcrabs

back into their holes / our brothers

hoist the sails & festoon us

w / maile garlands / pua & ‘awapui

flower-scented aura of our people /

protect us mother / we follow your

ocean patch to the world above

the dark cave / guide us mother

the sea serpent lurks beneath waves

monster ego / demons gnaw on the rigging

steady us mother / your eye lights the way

your heart moves our blood

your hand steers our boat

and plants us like seeds in the new

land / sing for us tinā.

 

CAROLINE SINAVAIANA GABBARD