JOshua Toumu’a
fruits of our labour
I had never known the taste of pomegranate
until after the poetry
I didn’t realise how much it stains your hands,
your lips; the little seeds inside like
a punishment for anyone daring a taste
to me, love isn’t
an act of service pocked
with tiny punishments
it is gifting ripe soursop to the neighbours
over a breeze block fence
passing it through a sieve with a wooden spoon
separating flesh and seed from milky sweet
to me, love is the time
attending to the bowl
pressing the sides of the mesh
we plant the seeds so maybe one day
I will hold the wooden spoon for children to come
and grate coconut, wringing it dry through its husk
I will show them my hands holding the brown fibres,
and in a moment tender and didactic
I’d say to them
we are made from the very same brown fibres, you and I
I am not skilled enough with the knife to
separate the blooming red skin from its pearls
but I know how to find the sweetest
watermelon at the market, scrape
out the contents with a fork
to drink with Sunday lunch
and from the market, you’d know
where to look to find
cold-store oranges in a translucent plastic bag
it sags from the weight, distorting the thank-you message
in broken English
I give thanks before tearing into the skin
with both hands, thumbs prying apart
its refrigerator-cool flesh
and when I dare a taste
my teeth are met with no seeds
the produce came in last week
from Australia in a shipping container as big as a house
they were picked by hands
woven from the same brown fibres
they held woven baskets to their waist
while they picked the fruit, their hands calloused
one for every prayer
when the workday was over
they did not peel the oranges they bring home
for their loved ones
nor have they ever tasted a pomegranate
but to them, love isn’t crimson pearls
or stripped orange skin
but an orchard in the distance
and university at the doorstep
Joshua Toumu’a is a uni student living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. He is the winner of the 2022 Schools Poetry Award, and his work has been published on The Spinoff, Starling and elsewhere. He thinks there are too many ‘u’s in the word ‘vacuum’ but any less would also be weird.