This poem is part of a series of self portraits that explore found text and identity. Each portrait gleans words from a found source (in this case a book of Samoan grammar) and rearranges them (infrequently adding bridging words) to create a small sketch of self.
Another self portrait was published in the NZ Listener and several more are forthcoming in Deep South.
Self portrait as Everyday Samoan II (Samoan Grammar)
To start on a journey early in the morning
to enter a house
to draw water
to open
to sieve the blood
to cry with a low moaning voice
to reach the root
to draw water
to cry with a low moaning voice
to ripen the singing
to bring through, as canoes through the reef
to yield
