PLASTIC pēpē PLASTIC

Their teacher’s Sāmoan but they say, he’s vegetarian, came from

the big city, wanted a lifestyle change. These kids got the internet

to navigate the moana, a hand on the heart of their ‘enua

a foot stuck in two front yards. There are instababes now 

with long black hair, they eat chop suey now, say 

you gotta eat meat to be real. 

Your nana got married in the PI church, ran the trams until the family

was a row of houses loving on moon faced weetbix babies

out in Cannons Creek. E pēpē, the island that birthed her is unreal

like a shit-house divorce that got covered up years ago

like an earring you lost and pretend you don’t care about

all your IV lines are flavours and your visuals

are Google Maps. 

Strangers pick you as Spanish, say you must be from 

the Middle East, maybe South America, your English is really

good?  Welly boys show you they’re cultural, they ate pigeon

in Vietnam, smoked some pot out of a hookah, really vibe 

with Buddhist energies, wipe you clean

of colonial guilt. 

Your nana would say it’s good, like strings of yellow plastic beads

draped over polyester floral dresses from the Warehouse. 

If you ever wore gold e pēpē, she would yell take that off

before someone rips it from you! Because you never know

where the thieves are hiding, even in the hospital wing 

at the rest home in Maupuia.  

In this economy:

I want to build a great big house with you 

in the Sims 3. We can have 

four bedrooms and an oak tree

out the back, maybe splash out with a pool 

to drown the neighbours. 

I want to build a great big house and chant:

ROSEBUD, ROSEBUD, ROSEBUD 

until the simoleons fall from the sky 

like sudden death.  

I want to build a great big house 

with a lock on the door and just two keys

(you + me). We can surprise

the landlord with some strangers

ruin a marriage, mow a lawn. 

I want to build a great big house and sculpt

me in my image, you in yours

we can generate pleasant and generic

brown children, buy Sims Pets 

and feed cheese toasties 

to a dragon.

I want to build a great big house so

you can sweep me off the chequered lino

whispering in perfect Simlish

until I am double plusses. 

I want to build a great big house

where you write a novel on the desktop

while I paint a thousand canvasses

become three different kinds of doctor

force the dog to act in movies. 

I want to build a great big house 

so I can hit [SAVE]

every two seconds, just in case

a UFO comes

to beam you away.

Mereana Latimer

Mereana Latimer (Atiu, Pākehā, Ngāti Apa / Ngā Wairiki) lives in Te Whanganui a Tara. Outside of the regular nine to five she tries to write, work on her reo, and collaborate on low-key projects.