Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Cumming Selina Tusitala Marsh bloodgirl lived in a sleepy how town (with up all few bird words down) bloodgirl cleaned her skin with their bones carbon dirt diamond stone sleepy how town frowned and locked her far bloodgirl congealed, slipped through the bar painted her why on all whose doors carbon fire glass ore afakasi drew his many hows down (with flying whys and who shoulds around) afakasi marked her words, crossed her naughts crystal ruby sardonyx quartz questions inked (both big and small) bloodgirl and afakasi faced the wall scribed their hows, etched their mights alum galena bismuthinite Selina Tusitala Marsh Selina Tusitala Marsh is a poet and scholar. She was the first person of Pacific descent to graduate with a PhD in English from the University of Auckland, where she now lectures in Māori and Pacific literary studies. She established Pasifika Poetry, an online hub that celebrates the poetry of tagata o te moana nui, the peoples of the Pacific. More by Selina Tusitala Marsh › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 1 6 November 2026 · Friday Fiction Headland Harry Goddard He must have still been sore. I could tell from the winces he made as he scooted down the trail. Some unspoken agreement of not hitting other people’s children — and the circumstances of me not being that type of kid — spared me from the same punishment. I was taken to my parents who agreed I would have to work off the damages, and I must have mowed the lawn once, or cleaned the family car. 4 November 2026 · Film MIFF, Minotaur and the politics of maternal reception Alicia Byrnes Maternal labour is, in the terms I’ve set out here, not labour at all. Noisy, unfocused, mobile, perhaps even sleepy — it is an affront to arthouse film viewing and therefore unserious.
