PALUSAMI
My family is like palusami
Like the different flavours that come together as one to create the feast that we all
know and love
Or the different personalities that come together and we have to love
My family is like palusami
Or sometimes uncooked palusami
Arguments and fights giving me that bad feeling like the itch in your throat
Making myself bite my tongue or in this case hold on to the pain out of the respect
that i have for
The person that made the palusami, for the person that made me
My family is like palusami
We have onions that make you cry, cornbeef that makes you happy kara coconut
milk that harmonises the yin and yang and the taro leaf that holds the family
together
You see for me
The taro leaf wasn’t always there
Going around the kitchen looking for things that can replace it
Instead i’d find something that would make me happy for a little while
But then i realised that
What i’m eating isn’t palusami
What i’m eating is just a distraction from the pain that i’m feeling because the taro
leaf wasn’t there
But in my family in my palusami the coconut milk teaches me about forgiveness
So father i ain’t mad at you
You put our family through the dirt
Had me second guessing life thinking that it was a curse
But i ain’t mad at you
In the day my mum was crying at night my mum was trying to stack food on the table
I ain’t mad at you
Supporting 5 all by herself didn’t ask for any help she only cared about our health
Nah i ain’t mad at you
For not being there, me and my siblings pretending that we didn’t care
But the truth is i did
Sometimes i wonder how our lives could have been
If we had both our parents there man we’d be living the dream
Instead we came out overseas and meant to live out his dream
We got the work but doesn’t feel like we a part of a team
It feels like
Anything i do doesn’t matter
We barely call you barely talk to you busy chasing that chatter
What about your kids though
I don’t really care ‘bout bread or sex with the girls
Only thing i truly want is a dad
A proper family
But the coconut milk tells me that a proper family is about forgiveness
So taro leaf i forgive you
Because i found a taro leaf that will never let me down
So i take the pages out of his bible and use that as my taro leaf i use that as
My foundation
A Lot of people take one look at my palusami
And call it burnt skin and broken english
But i couldn’t care less what they think
Because burnt or not, uncooked or cooked broken english and all
I’ll still have the same love, the same respect, the same happiness
That i feel for my palusami.
Joseph Lomani
Year 12
Rolleston College
