Published online for the RUSSH 2024 Literary Showcase & in Two Spoons Press ‘Issue 1: Brave’
After Khadija Saye’s ‘Nak Bejjen’
Find a corner without sharp edges
you have seen enough
Leave the door ajar, creaking
acknowledging every entrance
every intention
Encourage a draft to lift breath from the lungs
perhaps they too feel the air
thick with anticipation
for healing
fixing
purging
cleansing
Position yourself, align and orientate
a spine moulded by muscles
malfunctioned
curved
collapsed
crumpled
craving to be cradled
flesh that holds memory
every tear
pull
break
ingestion
injection
Link arms, interlace fingers
shadows build
surrounding
entwining
binding
rhythmically swaying
hypnotic
amniotic bubble
that cushions any fall
collective hope envelopes me
I breathe it in
nostril to belly
Silence
it hangs
sacred
scanning for certainty in your face
we linger in this space between
words fears and faith
where we the living learn to keep breathing
Uncover
a wound unbound
layers unwound
intangible slurry exposed
so that light may refract
through slivers in the crowd
a membrane glistening
coated by emulsion
sealed through weary tears
haunted, hunted
within one’s own skin
Grip
tied to the conduit meticulously placed
so that it may puncture
with clarity
Struck
energy channeled through
the winding canal of strings
that go unseen
and release
so I may surrender
grasping, gasping