Panguna

Grown in the grace
of the old shore's
malarial embrace.
Twist of her fate
and a passing storm,
I was bathed in streams of cortisol:

-- runs in the veins, flows.

I've been known to feel like I've been swallowed whole.

Sunken, raw, I'll only weigh you down.
Numb from the day I was brought home
to the island where the blood boils.

-- runs in the veins, flows
as something ingrained.

I've been known to feel like I've been swallowed whole:

born into civil war.