room
there are captain cooks amongst us too – bullies,
throwing their weight around
they think they are the centre of the room but that’s only because
they have never been anywhere but there
they have no idea about the edges or even how far the room extends
one day they will realise that we in the corners are really in other centres
they will realise there are no corners
no walls
is it a room? is it a room then, when there are no walls?
i used to want to tell them to move over because they take up all the room
but there’s no room
there is no room
no walls, no room - just links and connections and space
you’re not at the centre; there are no centres
you’re just standing there
one node in a massive network
like the rest of us
room, published in Always Italicise: how to write while colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville. Published by Auckland University Press, 8 September 2022.