"The Dawn Raids" by Cindy Kurukaanga

Chocolate Polynesian brown was beckoned to the land of the long white cloud to work in factories, freezing works, docks, was beckoned to work hard, send money back to islands of hibiscus and frangipani But chocolate Polynesian brown got swallowed, digested in a stomach churning with acid-filled hate The outcome? That other shade of brown // But dawn, because you covered your eyes with the dark hands of night batons bashed on doors, scaring pregnant women, given barely enough time to dress while dogs spat their barks through bared teeth But dawn, Because you hid behind the horizon torches blazed, blinding, breaking sleep and families as parents were taken from screaming kids to be jailed then charged then sent back to the islands Dawn, because you were silent, because all murmurings were silenced. ————————————– Cindy Kurukaanga called us from Aotearoa, New Zealand. voicemailpoems.org/submit/ facebook.com/voicemailpoems x.com/voicemailpoems bsky.app/profile/voicemailpoems.bsky.social instagram.com/voicemailpoems