200% OR NOTHING by Devon Webb (New Zealand, 25)

​​I want to give 200% or nothing
what’s the point of half-assing life
when it has the potential to be so vibrant
I want to dance like nobody’s watching but if they are
it’s ok to be perceived
I want to be fearless in my loving
like I have never had it thrown back in my face like
I have never been hurt or denied

because what kind of healing in falling
victim to old patterns
what kind of growing in being
small enough to fit between their teeth
I want to be a woman you cannot swallow whole
I want to be a woman you can barely comprehend
but go along with anyway because she’s enigmatic
I want to be an accessible mystery
I want to be the unserious kind of cinema
that won’t win any Oscars
but makes people smile instead of intellectualize
which I’d say is the more valuable thing
I want to be an easy kind of beautiful
a precious kind of everything
a shameless orator who will only get louder
when they complain about the noise.





Devon Webb is a 25-year-old poet & writer based in Aotearoa. She writes full-time, exploring themes of femininity, sexuality, youth & vulnerability. She shares her poetry online, through live performance, & has been published both locally & internationally. She is the two-time Wellington Slam Poetry Champion, & is currently working on the final edits of her debut novel The Acid Mile. Her work can be found on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok at @devonwebbpoetry, & on Twitter at @DevTalks_nz.