YOUNGSOLWARA PACIFIC
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
  • ONLINE EXHIBITIONs
    • CANCEL RIMPAC EXHIBITION >
      • VIDEOS
      • VISUAL ART
      • POETRY
    • MORNING STAR EXHIBITION >
      • Visual Art
      • Poetry
      • Video Blog
      • Podcast
  • OUR WEAVE
  • OUR ARTISTS
  • OUR OCEAN
    • Maohi Lives Matter
    • The Ocean We Need
    • Connecting Our Ocean of Struggles: Remembering Why We Sweat and Cry Salt Water
    • Mai Em(Ocean) 2018
    • New Clear Ways >
      • Our Pacific Needs New Clear Ways NOT Japan's Waste
      • Not Japan's Dumpsite
      • We Are Not Alone
      • Pass the Solution for Nuclear Justice
      • 75th Commemoration of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
      • Solidarity with Guahan
    • Ban Seabed Mining >
      • Deep Sea COP
  • OUR STRUGGLES
    • Self Determination >
      • International Day for Human Rights 2020
      • Kanaky Referendum
      • We Bleed Black & Red >
        • Let West Papua Join the MSG
        • Wan Musik Wan Sing Concert 2020
        • Raise the Morning Star 2019
        • Vigil and Call to Action 2019
        • Free the West Papua Seven
        • Fiji NGO Coalition Call for Intervention
        • MACFEST Solomon Islands 2018
        • Youngsolwara Artist Camp 2018
        • I am Nesia Campaign
        • Hawaii Bleeds Black & Red
        • Defenders of Self Determination Exhibition 2016
        • National Day of Action 2014
    • Madang Wansolwara Dance
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
    • Press
  • CONTACT
Fissured

In Puna 
 there’s choice in the break, 
choice to crack, 
choice to expose, 
choice to pour forth 
molten memories. 
 Papa cracks in Puna, 
readjusts, stretches, 
bears down, 
her fissured surfaces 
birthing. 
 There’s agency in the choosing, 
power to decide, 
power to act, 
power to control 
procreation, 

 a right all women should have. 

At Pōhakuloa 

there’s no choice in the violence, 
no choice in being cracked, 
no choice in being exposed, 
no choice but to survive 
the penetration. 
 Papa is cracked at Pōhakuloa 
forced, beaten, 
she bears down, 
her fissured surfaces 
crying. 

There’s abuse in the denial, 
denying sanctity, 
denying voice, 
denying peace 
in creation, 

an ache no woman should ever feel. 

In me 

my heart cracks halfway between 
Puna and Pōhakuloa 

between a celebration of life 
and a plea to save it 
 
between fiery reverence  
and all-consuming rage 

between being fissured 
and choosing to tear myself apart 

praying for the calm.
 I wrote this poem reflecting on a few things: RIMPAC and destruction, creation and birth in Puna, women and the right to choose what we do with our bodies. Though written in 2018, it's all so relevant now.
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
  • ONLINE EXHIBITIONs
    • CANCEL RIMPAC EXHIBITION >
      • VIDEOS
      • VISUAL ART
      • POETRY
    • MORNING STAR EXHIBITION >
      • Visual Art
      • Poetry
      • Video Blog
      • Podcast
  • OUR WEAVE
  • OUR ARTISTS
  • OUR OCEAN
    • Maohi Lives Matter
    • The Ocean We Need
    • Connecting Our Ocean of Struggles: Remembering Why We Sweat and Cry Salt Water
    • Mai Em(Ocean) 2018
    • New Clear Ways >
      • Our Pacific Needs New Clear Ways NOT Japan's Waste
      • Not Japan's Dumpsite
      • We Are Not Alone
      • Pass the Solution for Nuclear Justice
      • 75th Commemoration of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
      • Solidarity with Guahan
    • Ban Seabed Mining >
      • Deep Sea COP
  • OUR STRUGGLES
    • Self Determination >
      • International Day for Human Rights 2020
      • Kanaky Referendum
      • We Bleed Black & Red >
        • Let West Papua Join the MSG
        • Wan Musik Wan Sing Concert 2020
        • Raise the Morning Star 2019
        • Vigil and Call to Action 2019
        • Free the West Papua Seven
        • Fiji NGO Coalition Call for Intervention
        • MACFEST Solomon Islands 2018
        • Youngsolwara Artist Camp 2018
        • I am Nesia Campaign
        • Hawaii Bleeds Black & Red
        • Defenders of Self Determination Exhibition 2016
        • National Day of Action 2014
    • Madang Wansolwara Dance
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
    • Press
  • CONTACT