top of page

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, you said. 

We trusted you because you knew.  

You came here every summer as a kid. Round, leggy, black with a red danger stripe. Your nan got bitten while collecting  driftwood here, ae. Didn’t kill her, āe.  Got her good. Right on the index finger. But that story wasn’t as good as the one about that time she dropped her sausage straight into the fire. How she fished  it out of the flames with her stick and ate it even though it was burnt.  ‘Never waste a good sausage!’ she laughed.  What a crack up. It took us a long time  to make a campfire that night. And when  you held your stick over the flames,  the smoke got in your eyes.



Sarah Caroline Bell is studying the Graduate Diploma of Arts (Greek) at Victoria University of Wellington.


Recent Posts

See All
13/07/2026

Em for maybe an hour we sat, she did not have to, but we sat together unscrambling famous paintings. her letters much neater than mine and in light blue rather than black. she guessed ‘the last su

 
 
 
‘Roommate 🩷✨🍷’ sent you a reel

Tasman May there's something about the way nighttime doesn't feel so lonely with her easy-as-breathing chuckle tapping gently at the door / the notification bar of my phone I am not alone, because she

 
 
 
Ode to a Rainy Street

Milla Brown The greying street held a plethora of people. All hurrying, all with places to be, all ignoring what was before them. With heads bent and umbrellas hovering above them, they moved with a c

 
 
 

Comments

Gig_Guide Panel Guitar.png

​

Salient is published by, but remains editorially independent from, the Victoria University of Wellington Students Association (VUWSA). Salient is funded in part by VUWSA through the Student Services Levy. Salient is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). 

​

Complaints regarding the material published in Salient should first be brought to the VUWSA CEO in writing (ceo@vuwsa.org.nz). If not satisfied by the response, complaints should be directed to the Media Council (info@mediacouncil.org.nz). 

Gig_Guide Panel DJ.png
bottom of page