Out of breath

Teresia Teaiwa

I formed words

Hoping to
Share thoughts
With you

Hoping to
Share feelings
With you

Hoping to
Share spirit

With you

Out of breath
I formed words

And you left me

I formed words

Hoping to
Share thoughts
With you

Hoping to
Share feelings
With you

Hoping to
Share spirit
With you

I formed words
Out of breath

And you left me

---

Essence of Me

Teresia Teaiwa

Africa exhales from under my arms
Intoxicating
And caught daily in the fishing net
that is my hair there
Are all the scents of the Pacific
Especially coconut
China clings (not as a colour, you understand)
to the surface of skin
Between my legs
That's just me
A bit like cassava with a hint of the sea
My feet are me too
Europe can't seem to secrete itself out of my body
And America?
America wafts only out of open suitcases
And air conditioned Cost-U-Lesses
I never smell like America
No matter how hard I try

---

Te onauti *

Teresia Teaiwa

Be te onauti
And fly.
Walking is for
Pathetic bipeds,
And swimming
Only half an option.

Men see one horizon
Where you always see two.

Perhaps that is why
fishermen lost and
unable to stomach
any more of the sea
feel fortunate to
catch you
so they may suck on your eyes.

Fish out of water: fly.
Fish, out of water, see two horizons.

* Kiribati for 'flying fish'