tessa keenan
scurvy girls
In the middle of a lecture about climate change and the Suez Canal,
Sophie realised she must be a pirate.
Since Kate stopped eating dinner, she has become limp and wilted.
She bends around the room slowly. She hopes her touch won’t interrupt the wooden floor.
Runa wears a black buckled corset over a white shirt to a glow in the dark party,
so it looks like she doesn’t have a heart.
‘When I stand up for too long, my legs are not attached to my body at all,’ thinks Bridget.
‘They don’t even resemble wooden legs or a mermaid tail.’
Tanya goes home for the holidays. Malt and chocolate end up down her top.
Her mum is a good baker. She flies their flag at half-mast.
Gemma vomits millions of squished orange and green gummy fish into an Aro Street gutter
on the way home from her boyfriend’s.
A woman in the house across the road turns her lights on once Phaedra shuts her curtains.
Her body emanates a yellow glow. It calms with the night and the sea.
When Janhavi is embarrassed about spending money she orders a filter coffee.
There is a small person inside her that enjoys watery things.
Our ship is sinking
and I haven’t bought any fruit.
muesli
The superior kind of muesli
is in the Countdown-brand transparent bag.
It has so much dried fruit
and there are often around four banana chips
in one bowl.
You don’t like bananas.
But I like my opinions
in the morning. I like being
fresh and smart. The locked door hides
my flat’s black mould, meaning
it doesn’t exist and we can feel tasteful
with bags under our eyes. Identical
purple dirt patches under our chins.
A visual history that disappears
as it ripens. I like you so much
I might just advertise my flat on Facebook.
The superior kind of morning
is one that is flat and quiet.
A kākā dancing. No sirens.
But I like to think
I would move for you, with you,
and embrace the change.
Tessa Keenan (Te Ātiawa) was raised in Taranaki and is now studying Law and English Lit at Victoria University of Wellington. She has been published in Starling, a fine line, and Salient.