say hi to forever

manuela

a fifth of the land on earth is her

there’s a girl named savannah
with skin red like the australian sand
her eyes hid a library of stories
in a language she didn’t understand

she was ‘half vietnamese, half australian’
later she cried, sobbing she had lied
she was ashamed running through her veins
was 200 years of pain

(she said her mama tried to hurt her)

her skin marked by scars

running like rivers, breaking into streams
striking, lightening from afar

when taunts were thrown in class
she’d gaze up at the ceiling
no, she wasn’t inspecting the smoke alarm
but stopping her hurt from showing

one morning i found myself
walking alongside her,
‘savannah’
(i don’t know why i whispered)

‘hey’ she replied