Echidna and a Drag Queen Named Pipi
for Dan Taulapapa McMullin
it’s all glitter scales or light
shifting on a surface over water an island made of
photons
how does one undo such acrylics
when they become so attached
not just some faggot in the
kitchen sweeping away the stains of
a dead god Echidna dears Pipi to take her
out to a bar made of ancestors queerer
than all the motherfucking stars
sisters and dogs all moving with the tides
sometimes the quiet is all u need to swim in
and sometimes it’s the space between words that traps
them wholly
still with the arms moves constantly
essa may ranapiri (tainui / waikato / maungatautari / waikawa / manakau / tararua | mātaatua / whakatāne / pūtauaki | cuan a tuath / guinnich / thames / highgate | takatāpui | they / ia) kaituhi residing on ngāti wairere whenua / they will write until they’re dead
