Poetry/Prose | Salient

Tue, 8:41p.m.

For Ali It was something about it, Just sitting there — cat curled into a comma against my thighs, fridge humming softly in the background. You said you’re sorry for upsetting me. And I replied, I’m only upset because I— care. Really care. Too much, maybe. And if you told me to run, to throw myself from the overpass on State Highway 1, because you needed me at the bottom— I would go. No hesitation. I would do anything you wanted.

Phoebe Robertson

Oct 9, 20251 min read

Love Strands

A dove wisp daydream – in the reflective space of sweat and tears. A strand of hair tied around your pinkie toe murmurs "hello it’s me". The humidity of daylight grasped in his palm. Entangled in our conversations, there is something worth saying. You are radiation captured in my dreamcatcher. Entrapped in my fine vase stolen, meshed in memory fibres –– too personal to recount. You are the mystery under my bra-strap, the gaps in a tatt

Isabella Fuller

Oct 9, 20251 min read

To someone by no one…

I adorn your face from multiple lifetimes. Do you recognise me as yours? My voice resembles yours in one sentence, Did I sound...

Taea Staples

Sep 29, 20251 min read

Feral Bonds

The moon takes up our sky; it's the first time in weeks I have no open wounds. I can smell my sister’s gash. The split near her eye is...

Brigit Nelson

Sep 22, 20254 min read

Piercing the Veil

By Tamanna Amin The wind rustles the leaves. The sun slips behind a passing cloud. Thomas sighs. A dog barks from behind a fence. The...

Tamanna Amin

Sep 8, 20256 min read

Purple, Blue Clouds

Words by Jasmine Boreham Wright (she/her) They took the scenic route as they left the hospital. The car hummed underneath them as it...

editor11172

Sep 2, 20254 min read

Harper and the Snails

By anonymous For Renée It was late—too late for both of us to have work the next day. (How will the government keep running when you’re...

editor11172

Aug 4, 20251 min read

A Portrait of You

Ryan Cleland (he/him) You painted me the other day. A flurry of reds and oranges wove through my hair. Greens and blues filled the...

Ryan Cleland

Aug 4, 20251 min read

The Devotee and her Deity

Words by: Chloe Hope (she/her) Drag of silk over skin — My fingers in your mouth, the rasp and scrape of your molars against the pad of...

editor11172

Aug 4, 20251 min read

Sitting Ducks

By Anonymous It’s a black coffee morning. Not just the drink—though that too, tar-thick in a chipped Coat of Arms mug—but the mood of...

editor11172

Jul 28, 20255 min read

Embellishments all of Her own.

By Quinn Cassidy (they/he/she), Te Arawa The sun sees her as I do. Adorning her with freckles, Gifted upon her knees. Her...

editor11172

Jul 14, 20251 min read

Father and Son

By Vin Mahadevan If there’s one thing my father and I have in common, it’s that we’re both addicted to putting fags in our mouths. Every...

editor11172

Jul 14, 20252 min read

The Bunkbed

By B. I. Godson In those days Brother Jean-Baptiste had no doubts about God. There on the top bunk, the balls of his feet pressed through...

editor11172

Jul 7, 20255 min read

Lust Is In The Eye Of The Prompt Writer

Kermit Winona Chat GPT — take my seed. Spread your legs.png and painlessly bear the generated slop messiah. Praise be, praise be to...

editor11172

May 26, 20251 min read

Hunter/Gatherer

Joshua Toumu’a (he/him) Once again, I have looked upon Desire like the sun and they left a lavender bag of themself in my pillowcase. I...

editor11172

May 12, 20251 min read

Octopuses Holding Glow Sticks.

Kermit Winona Scientists gave octopuses MDMA, just to see. You see, they hate each other. The octopuses, I mean. They just really,...

editor11172

May 12, 20251 min read

[I am tī kōuka]

Ahinata Kaitai-Mullane (she/her; Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) I am tī kōuka. We are. I can’t decide which. Perhaps it’s both at...

editor11172

Apr 14, 20251 min read

Butterflies

Izzy Christie I don’t want to be happy. At least that’s what I tell myself. My heart beats behind the cotton wool of my jumper at the...

editor11172

Mar 31, 20259 min read

Moonkissed

Pluto Rennie (he/they/she) Last night I realised I can see the moon through the gap in my curtains. She was bright, almost complete, ...

editor11172

Mar 31, 20251 min read

Muse

Elliot Melville Every song has become yours. Every melody, every lyric, every brushstroke of every painting, every street sign; the...

editor11172

Mar 31, 20251 min read

His Eighteen-Year-Old Self

Te Urukeiha Tuhua (he/him; Tūhoe) Maurice rummaged through the boxes that had been discarded and forgotten in the back of his closet,...

editor11172

Mar 24, 20253 min read

Having Sex with a Robot

Lucy McCorkindale (she/her) His unbending hands aren’t good with buttons, so I undress the both of us. He lifts his heavy arms to the...

editor11172

Mar 24, 20252 min read

full moon

Bram Casey (he/him) under skylight in black underwear nobody knows me like i do in my head plays a shaky digi-cam video of the full...

editor11172

Mar 24, 20251 min read

Three Spells

Jackson McCarthy (he/him) Make me of the body spell And even if the night were bad, how could I want the wanting day, everything in...

editor11172

Mar 3, 20251 min read

Friedrich’s Ulcer

Bob van Beek Self-hygiene had never been one of Friedrich’s strengths. This fact is most readily apparent in his oral region, which,...

editor11172

Feb 24, 20256 min read

Truths

Cadence Chung (she/they) I’ve got one of those colds that sneaks in like a text to an ex-lover, and my lungs are full of salt. On Marion...

editor11172

Feb 24, 20251 min read

Finding my Hands

I have always known I had a voice / The vibrations shaking my throat

Guest Writer

Sep 30, 20241 min read

Where To From Here?

Low-hanging branches brush into Ata’s face as he crawls up through the forest that covers the hills.

Kimihia Garcia-Grace

Sep 16, 20245 min read

Ngāi Tauira: Delight

In the heart of the city, where the lights glow bright, / Lies a place of delight, beneath the moonlight.

Guest Writer

Aug 12, 20241 min read

Point Chev

Streets lined with coded colours / A subliminal call to replant yourself at the source / Hibiscus hues are covert beacons

Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson

Aug 5, 20241 min read

Void Of A Mother’s Presence

Trying to write about grief is like Trying to count the number of times I’ll sit down at a table that Should have one more set

Isabella Seneuefa Leitūpo

Jul 22, 20241 min read

The Tale of Leveimatagi and Leveifualolo

The story of Leveimatagi and Leveifualolo is all about good vibes, honor, and creating a cultural legacy.

Guest Writer

Jul 22, 20241 min read

WHO AM I?

I am a descendant of Tagaloa and this is the riddle of my being— / a tale of identity, heritage, and resilience.

Porita Fruean

Jul 22, 20242 min read

20 Father’s Days With You

In the tapestry of time, 20 Father’s Days adorned Each a treasure, each a cherished morn For 20 years, we laughed and we embraced

Malia Tatafu

Jul 22, 20241 min read

[untitled]

Our tupuna gather around us, Our kōpu tangata embracing us, Coming together to coat us.

Meilani Payne

Jul 22, 20241 min read

Soulful Whispers: A Pasifika Odyssey

At the seabed of midnight ink, I roam, A Pasifika daughter, far from home.

editor11172

Jul 22, 20241 min read

The Lights

Sitting by the water reminds me of you.

Guest Writer

Jul 15, 20241 min read

Harvest of the Heart

I do not choose the finest grapes only what is found in my garden

Guest Writer

Jul 15, 20241 min read

Afakasi

By Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson In your malaga, I feel seen Afakasi speaks So I am heard I said I would stop calling myself that But...

Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson

Jul 8, 20241 min read

Katipō

Words by Sarah Caroline Bell It took us a long time to make a campfire that night. Gotta get driftwood, you said. Pick it up carefully,...

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20241 min read

Waikawa Beach

By Chris Girven Dad is picking up shells for the garden Mum is sitting and watching Ben is washing his hands in the water So particularly...

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20241 min read

8:00am in khandallah

Izzy Christie under the shallow / the tempered porcelain below the wave / waits the rubber duck emulsified into congealed butter / i am...

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20241 min read

Fire Engines

Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees.

editor11172

Jul 8, 20248 min read

sixteen minutes

sixteen minutes into saturday and my arm is unbroken.

Zia Ravenscroft

Jul 8, 20241 min read

The Fourth Day

By Larry McMyler I hold my hands skin-searingly close to a fire of my father’s making. I am ten, not yet old enough to drink my warmth...

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20241 min read

Real

At first, I just wanted to feel something. Just wanted escape, if only for a moment.

editor11172

Jul 8, 20248 min read

Unfinished Ritual

Words by Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds The fabric of our skin was paperbark. Unravelled my tapa to unravel your tapu. Phrygian shepherd...

Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynold

Jul 8, 20241 min read

Crushing

I see him at the checkout, adorned in a khaki apron. Under the harsh fluorescent lights he waits for me, like Heathcliff on the moors.

Jemma Richardson

Jul 8, 20244 min read

Backfire!

Look out at the grasslands, gulp, and get going. Better guzzle some water. Pretend you’re Rango, a reptile seeking power

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20242 min read

Mirror Burn

By Sofia Drew After Louise Glück It was October and each second was rimmed with light such clean light. This was, for me, an...

Guest Writer

Jul 8, 20241 min read

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