pores and skin
He’s white, however he is aware of meWe are two hairs on the identical headWe are a pair of sunken armchairsWe are reverse wedges of a color wheel
We each recognise 70s kitchensLime traces laid over orange oblongsThough he remembers veneered desk conversations In regards to the Māoris, and I recall I’m one.
What’s white? He argues he’s ruddyI maintain his pink handAs we pad quietly by again alleysAvoiding small-town stonings
He smells of salt and ironAnd I of whenua and waiTwo palms aligned his, splintered | mine, inked
We belief solely one another to revealprime eeling spotswatercress plotsdoughboy recipes
At my seashore, we mooch previous easy drivewaysand stare at flash houseswashed up like empty coffinsand think about laying down in a single.
We hoot like whekau and purchase a Lottothen dash for our fav ice cream truckHe orders French vanillaMe: Italian espresso. He pays, damned straight.
We discover display screen footprints on DNA mapsCould we be kissing cousins?Am I inheritor to Queen Hatshepsut’s bearded legacy?Did he as soon as oil my comb? Would he once more?
He and I come from virtually nothinga foaming head, an empty cupboarda work ethic, some chooks, violence.He is aware of me. And I, him.
Our tamaiti is born, eyes figuring out.We caress his tiny alien handsAnd fall in love againwith one another’s
pores and skin
“pores and skin” was named winner of the 2025 Pikihuia Award for poetry, the second time that Shelley Burne-Discipline has received the prize, staged by Te Waka Taki Kōrero – Māori Literature Belief. Choose Tayi Tibble wrote, “It’s a honest and tender poem that makes use of a form of Māori sentimentality to explain an interracial relationship…The straightforward rhythm of the poem means we’re in a position to transfer naturally by shifting concepts; 70s kitchens, to seashore walks, to Queen Hatshepsu, ending on a start.”
Shelley Burne-Discipline provides, “Bernie and I’ve been collectively 31 years this yr. He’s an excellent bloke and our pores and skin color issues naught.”
