Defrosting colonisation in summer

by Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds (she/they)

Heat cages flesh,

I am a thawing carcass

stumbling along the city’s sweaty

tarmac skin.

Roads end dead,

I am lost among rotten paths,

stacked and laid on top

one another.

The eyes are here.

There are eyes here.

Sand sinks mobility,

I am thrust onto ancient shores,

And blinded by imported

Grimaces that steadily besiege.

Water licks limbs,

and on this beach,

one hundred years melt from my body —

the dusky maiden returns.

Les yeux sont ici.

Il y a des yeux ici.

It is here that you feast

Upon our black pearl girls

It is here that we lay helplessly,

Parce qu’il n’y a pas des yeux ici.

Especially when you fuck us, missionary.

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

For all the bleached beach bikini babes.