Kaiata Kaitao -Sister-in-Salt

In my first and last memory of you

we’re toe-tracing surfacing ripples

thickly wrapped in neon nylon

the size of prized apples,

and bobbing like them too.

Already, the fluidity was

settling into our marrow

circling our irises

reminding us of our duty

to inundate

to waterlog

to draw the world’s channels

to chin-height.

Daughters of the deep, we were

hitting every party round

the water’s edge

quacking about

in extra-small flippers

These days, my sodium intake’s down to

tongue-tracing around

stingy, shatterproof rims

sodium stifling my breath

as the bar’s bassline attempts CPR

And you linger on the skin
of all those you left behind
etched into wounds so deep
they’re more fillet than flesh.

That day, my mother gently tore away
a fraying thread from my togs
and I held my tongue
until she next dipped me under

The next thread, I’ll stitch
around the curve of our hips
weaving memories together
until we’re embroidered into
a tivaevae of our own

When the rain’s at its hardest,
I’ll sashay down Courtenay Place
let the salt soak into my curls and calves
and together
we’ll tuck away one last shot
for the road.

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© Kaiata Kaitao

Kaiata Kaitao is a young, proud, Cook Islands Māori creative currently studying in her first year at Victoria University of Wellington. She has been previously published in Toitoi and Te Rōpū Toikupu o Aotearoa’s 2023 Anthology. She also appeared as a guest poet at the inaugural Hawkes Bay CREATE Symposium, Matariki Mahuika, the 2025 Ahuriri All in for Arts Breakfast, and multiple of the Nevertheless Trust’s Rhythm and Brownie Nights. When not writing, she is an avid public speaker, having advocated for both women’s rights and the importance of supporting the written arts at both the 69th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York City and the 2025 Aotearoa Youth Parliament.