A poem by Mount Maunganui poet Tyla Harry Bidois.

BYSSHE

i don’t think two poets should be in love; this one serpent consuming
itself.
the enchantment dies, explodes from overuse and the numbness of
two tacticians —
in my life, the seduction of a common defect or talent crawls through
fascination and into war;
my song will eat your song. it must. it’s too much blood. i’d hurt you
inside it after you have hurt me,
summon his face into it like the petals of my favourite knife. i love
hiding behind men,
the way they hurt each other better through the inevitability
of too much nearness;
the curtain of being only a woman is its own weapon there — and
aware that i know,
i slip behind and away. what do you know about stolen light?
what do you know about this kind of contagion, this kind of lucency?
how could you love me yet fight me for the same god?

Tyla Harry Bidois is the featured poet in Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023 (Massey University Press), edited by Tracey Slaughter.

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed.