The pregnant pioneer looks over her shoulder
I’m dressed in yellow leaking
gorse seeds out my pockets like
crumbs I am dressed in white skin
drinking from the spout of a
teapot the Waikato is
clear and twisting onto my
tongue rats are roaming under
my skirt my son is sprouting
legs like a tadpole a tree
falls a tree falls a tree falls
sparrows flap from my armpits
spiders crawl on my sweaty
nape the main issue we have
is mud
Biography Rata Gordon
Rata Gordon is a seventh-generation Pākehā New Zealander. She lives on Waiheke Island and coordinates a youth arts and wellbeing programme. Her poems have found homes in journals including Sport, Landfall, JAAM, Deep South, 4th Floor and Poetry NZ.
