Tusiata Avia's first collection of poetry, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt draws on two different cultures, and charts the sometimes painful points of their intersection.  These poems are both confrontational and entertaining, raw and lyrical.  They occupy a world of legend and history - "we are direct descendants of flesh-eaters" - and break through into an urban landscape that is just as arresting and richly patterned.  Avia's poetry is alive with the energy and rhythm of performance poetry and of an oral tradition, but it also stakes out a unique physical life on the page, reshaping our language and our understanding of New Zealand culture.

"Tusiata's poetry is quite revolutionary in the sense that, not only does it define the face of Pacific literature in  New Zealand, but it redefines the face of New Zealand literature itself". Sia Figiel