i was mothered by lonely women some
of them wives some of them with
plumes of smoke for husbands all lonely
smelling of onions & milk all mothers
some of them to children some to old names
phantom girls acting out a life only half
a life away instead copper kitchenware
bangles pushed up the arm fingernails rusted
with henna kneading raw meat with salt
with coriander sweating upper lip
in the steam weak tea hair unwound
against the nape my deities each one
sandal slapping against stone heel sandal-
wood & oud bright chiffon spun
about each head coffee in the dowry china
butter biscuits on a painted plate crumbs
suspended in eggshell demitasse & they
begin i heard people are saying
i saw it with my own eyes [ ]’s daughter
a scandal she was wearing [ ]
& not wearing [ ] can you imagine
a shame a shame
2018
Regular
Contemporary
2021
Family
Identity
Intersectionality & Culture
Anaphora
a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences
Caesura
a break between words within a metrical foot
Metaphor
a comparison between two unrelated things through a shared characteristic
Sensory Detail
words used to invoke the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell)