School Play
I dropped out
because the big girls from Haranui
hassled me on the bus.
I was too skinny.
I read too much.
I didn't know about 2pak.
I went to Primary with their sisters
so they knew all about me.
They knew I was the teacher’s pet,
that I got breasts early
and that their sisters didn't like me.
They knew that I was bad at netball
and elastics and hung out with boys.
That I had a crush on Dwayne,
who wet the bed
on camp at Waitangi.
When I got in
I was so proud.
I never knew I could dance,
I had never danced before.
We were too poor
to afford lessons.
We lived too far in the country
for any extra curricula activity.
I just moved my body
like the way that they showed me.
I didn't know
white girls don't dance hip hop.
I didn't know -
my parents hadn't taught me.
That was up to Jo and Matiri.
They laughed
when I told them my iwi.
No girl so white could be Maori.
They pushed and taunted,
they squirted me with water
'Look, she's pissed herself!'
- a gush of laughter.
But they were sure to never really hurt me.
Maybe they thought I came from
a rich, white family.
Once I left,
bus rides regained some normalcy.
However, I was too ashamed
to go with my friends
and see that school play.
