Author(s): Sophia Wilson

NZ Poetry

Sophia Wilson’s Sea Skins explores the porous interfaces between personal, communal and environmental integrity. Slipping, sliding, going under and going overboard coexist with a determination to negotiate safe passage. Through the lenses of heritage, migration and ecological emergency, the collection shapeshifts and evolves to examine what is both cherished and damaged. ‘Sea skins’ are life’s fleeting flotsam and jetsam, teeth, tongue and bone amid dehumanising systems and alienating machines. They are word skins and survival skins, the diverse skins of sustainability and diplomacy, and ultimately, the tender under-skins at the heart of things.