Dear Salim,
Love, are you well? Do they you?
I worry so much. Lately, my hair , even
my skin . The doctors tell me it’s
I believe them. It shouldn’t
. Please don’t worry.
in the year, and moths
have gotten to your mother’s
, remember?
I have enclosed some — made this
batch just for you. Please eat well. Why
did you me to remarry? I told
and he couldn’t it.
I would never .
Love, I’m singing that you loved,
remember, the line that went
“ ”? I’m holding
the just for you.
Yours,
2016
Shorty
Contemporary
2020
2023
Agency
Intersectionality & Culture
Love & Relationships
Poetic Form
Politics
Racial Injustice
Caesura
a break between words within a metrical foot
Epistolary
(of a literary work) in the form of letters
Imperative
an instruction or a command
Rhetorical Question
a question asked for effect, not necessarily to be answered
Template Poem
a poem in which a poet uses a predetermined form to structure the poem. For example: a multiple-choice format, a recipe, directions, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Miranda Rights. A template poem borrows an already established form to provide structure and commentary.