From Pink Katie to Blue Carrie (for Andrea) - Karlo Mila

From Pink Katie to Blue Carrie (for Andrea)
- Karlo Mila

You were always the Charlie's Angel
men should have married
they never seemed to know any better.

We were gingham girls
sewed tight-lipped together
escaping hand-me-down harship
by living a paper thin paper doll existence
hooked on happy families
on rainy days.

I remember
how we wished for the elevated status
of cork filled high heels
on slave sandal budgets.

We practised being detectives
plastic hand-guns on our hipsd
you were my white-chick side-kick
my partner in solving crime
as I drama queened it through
my too-tanned over-olive skinned existence
tragically darker than Daisy Duke.

And when I needed to be a princess in pastel pink
or a bride in white
in someone's old petticoat
with mismatched elbow length gloves
and a shabby red rose at my throat
you would alternate between prince, frog, groom or
Remington Steele
just to keep the game going.


Karlo Mila is of Tongan, Palangi and Samoan descent. She was born in Rotorua, grew up in Palmerston North and now lives and works in Auckland. She has had poetry published in Whetu Moana, Best New Zealand Poems 2003, Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of Fusion Poetry, the Listener and Coffee and Coconuts. Karlo performs live poetry regularly.

http://nixie1.livejournal.com/?skip=10&tag=karlo%20mila