Out of the Shelves

Thursday, 28th August 2025 at 2:40pm

Congratulations to Malie Pierard (Yr 13) who won 1st place in the 'Out of the Shelves' writing competition!

Malie's poem, entitled 'Scales' won 1st Place in the 16-20 year old category. The prose is a poignant tale of the struggle to be seen.

Out of the Shelves is part of an InsideOUT Kōaro initiative, a national charity working to make Aotearoa safer for all rainbow and takatāpui people. It aims to celebrate budding rainbow youth.

SCALES

I’m scared of expressing myself, and a lot of people nowadays are.
Gender expression is a crime punishable by disappointment.

They’ve never been in my favour --
and I don’t think they ever will be.

I’m something else born with woman’s blood.
I’m something else…

Anything else.

But justice is as justice does,
and the lady is blindfolded.

And as much as she is cruel,
she never means to be.

And as much as she says she loves me,
she’ll never really see.

It’s a kangaroo court,
the judge is indecisive, I’m guilty until proven innocent, my lawyer is gone…
and the prosecutor --

She stands tall, proud, and glass-eyed.
Righteous, isn’t she?
Well, because she’s always right.

She’s the father, the birth certificate, the “miss”, the blood in the bowl,
the cyst in your system…
“you’re a beautiful girl”...
“at least she’s pretty”...
“getting pregnant will fix this, so don’t worry!”...

And she’s the crunch of your weak girl bones as the bailiff carries you behind the courtroom…
and the lady is blindfolded.

You’re called a devil.
A sinful shapeshifter,
the dirty fork-tongued trickster,
another pervert body switcher.

A snake.
Guilty on all accounts,
the sour Granny Smith taste still lingers in your mouth.

You’re nothing more than your peers’ approval,
and that’s why the pronouns switched.
Because, that’s what they call ‘you’.
Isn’t it?

There’s not much say, there’s little choice.
The court isn’t the place to get your freedom…
and the lady is blindfolded.