I WALK BRAVO

This piece was written on May, 2017 at the Youngsolwara Pacific Nadave Gathering. I first performed this piece at the Niu Waves evening of poetry in remembrance of Dr. Teresia Teaiwa.

My skin is sun kissed

But my body is Bravo

Bravo! That’s what the outsider say for ‘WELL DONE”

The Italians think it means “BRAVE”

But you know what I think? Bravo is a cell injected in my body about to explode

Bravo is a substance reaction that made my Bubu blind

Bravo is a deliberate performance in the sky

A calculated invisible to camouflage the visible

Burn tears burn dry

Bravo is my siblings born a defect machine

Bravo is a gene I pass

A replicate of a poisonous culture

But you know…. My Island a Castle before Bravo.

ALL THE WAY FROM DOWN HERE

​This video is the second installment in a series produced by the winners of APLN’s 2022 Pacific Islands Creative Competition on “Nuclear Weapons and the Climate Crisis.” The purpose of the video series is to showcase each winner, their stories, and the detrimental impact that nuclear weapons policies, practices, and climate change have had on their respective communities.Through this video, Luisa Tuilau aims to strengthen advocacy action on victim assistance and environmental remediation for individuals and areas affected by nuclear weapons testing. She shares the story of a family from the Marshall Islands, a country that had been used as a testing ground by nuclear-armed states, most notably the United States, from the 1940s to the 1990s. The mother, Brooke Takala, and her two boys, recount the ongoing, tangible impacts they still endure today as a result of nuclear weapons use and testing, as well as their hope for the future.