Map Anatomy
I.
Vovó’s fingers
Are soursop-flesh directories
In the fruit aisle
Mamãe’s wrists
Pave pink guides
To my guava bloodline
My daughter’s unborn fist
Salutes the passionfruit vines
Of my destination
My palms lined with these
Road-maps, roots deep,
Fit perfectly in my pocket.
II.
wrist: riverbed of purple ancestry
heel: cheek of papaya flesh, overripe
palm: cut-glass chalice collects pulp
finger: macaw claw to take off, to land
knuckle: mound of earth to hold seedling
fingernail: machete slices guava rind. swift.
III.
train track
back towards
east tree
sinks roots
beneath ruptures
ocean body
touring terrain
wrinkles gulley
time plain
with seeds
my spirited
fingers aground
destination distances
mão from
boca from
coração blood
maps ripens
past life
The Australian Dream
to love a sunburnt country is to first rub the land with aloe vera
recognise that it is burnt rest it in the shade
white picket fences unlock homes
line the jaws of suburbia and gnaw smelling of seaweed meat
red and raw throat, turn the boats back from the ocean of glowing gills
one drunk dream we make sure the exotic tree abroad
does not land on our shores has nothing on our sweet flesh
with our backs turned, we blushed in sugar-lip victory
sign invasion into settlement from farm to football field
catch hungry man into criminal surrendered to living the sunny life
kill black kid into statistic the sporty life, win again
slip slop slap your sunscreen protection from our elders
smear everything in white their light is warm
rubbing alcohol until the burn turns to embrace
everyone is blackout drunk lapping up the salt ocean
high on their own spirit like rainbow
snake venom serpent blood
Bruna Gomes
Bruna Gomes is an Australian-Brazilian novelist and poet. Her writing plants cultural and emotional history with new seeds. In 2021, she published her debut novel How to Disappear, and her work is featured in various online journals. When she’s not writing, she enjoys eating almond croissants and reading at the beach.