I have come to realize...

I have come to realize

the world is flat and round

I have come to realize

my father was not Goliath

I have come to realize

my mother was

I have come to realize I have to smash the ceiling

before

I am

entombed

by it

I have come to realize we must

colour the white spaces with our blood

I have come to realize we have bled

into the same spaces for hundreds of years

I have come to realize sistas are sacred

I have come to realize brothers can be too

I have come to realize I is we

I have come to realize you see  ‘us’ as ‘them’

I have come to realize

‘other’

is a convenient category

I have come to realize

New Zealand European is usually first in the list

I have come to realize my ‘dark blood’ runs deep through history

From India to the Carribean, Fiji, South Africa bled into cotton, sugar, tea, stained

the pockets of fat white men who dribbled over our beautiful, brown bodies

I have come to realize we must all stand to speak

before none of us

can

breathe...

Sarah Maindonald Bio: I am of Fijian Indian and Pakeha descent, born in Aotearoa, I am Asian, Pasefika, White and walk comfortably in Te Ao Māori.  I have been writing for a lifetime but more formally since I joined the Hagley Writers' Institute in 2010.

I am now a proud member of 'Fika Writers' and also create with other groups  including 'The Godwits'. I am  also a proud mamma of two adult children who now live and work in Melbourne. I work as a school counsellor and my passion is to support youth in strengthening their voices and providing advocacy.

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