subject:     politics

        once her eyes
        laughed & she said
          before you run
          my country come
          live my life
          for a while.

        while incense burned my
        scales fell. justice half
        to the good, but other
        tones weigh heavy, in the reed

        basket where she found me.
        i nuzzle the cave of her
        collarbones, the beach, the gleam
        of my lidless eye. we prayed

        to the god of nachos before
        i lay broken and helpless
        in her arms. she jigsaws me
        a human with moving parts,

        & the dance of poverty
        jingles my marrow. i am hopping
        & skipping with understanding,
        my eyes & lips stream

        with observation. the air is snow
        on my chest and i feel it.
        trees are logs in my eyes,
        holding them

        wide and i clutch them.
        sand and dust
        press up at my soles.
        my lungs ache, ready for office.

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iona, bi nz maid