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 here we are
Branded “half”
But I am whole
A whole meal of a body
A whole mouthful of a name
So “afakasi” doesn’t split me
How Samoan are you?
fia Palagi
Not fluent in our gagana
As I bend at the knee and serve ipu kī
As I serve, as I serve, as I serve
Fluent in feaus
Fluent in siva
Fluent in fia poko
Nana’s ring slips onto my pinky
Uncle said I inherited her looks
O lo’u tamā said I sound just like her
Better keep my head in those books
Plastic skin
Big mouth
The other day this lady laughed when I told her where my fibres come from
But I weave, but I weave, but I weave
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