RUBY SOLLY
STRANGE FRUIT
Sugar covers any misgivings;
brown sugar for plums,
white sugar for peaches,
black sugar
for pale skin.
We run
rings around trees,
teach ourselves
how to fetishise
the details
of flowering weeds
and salt
each other’s wounds.
Tying our necklaces
too tight,
enjoying it
too much.
Scarring ourselves
with braille,
so we can read
each other
with the lights off.
IN TIMES OF TROUBLE THE DOGS RUN TO THE HILLS
the town has never been so quiet
but our ears have been ringing for days
sometimes we hum the notes out loud and if we’re lucky
they harmonise
we have never sung the same note
we long to call jinx
and to be trapped in silence punctuated by
punches on sunburn
you dream that your mouth is full of feathers
and wake up face down
blue-lipped and breathing
stale life into our sheets
but we are guests here
and our invite is still in the post
I borrow weeds from the garden
I make you salads and soups
you shelter beneath my warning signs
while I muster
the courage to tell you
Ruby Solly is a Ngāi Tahu writer, artist and musician. She is currently doing a Masters in Music Therapy after doing a degree in Jazz Performance Cello. She spends a lot of time wondering what life after study is really like.