“And what a celebration
when we realize that our survival
need not make us into monsters”
–Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Softness, like honey
catching the light and spreading
out to fill the spoon
is all that’s needed.
Spread on before bandaging
and singing sweet songs.
Or dropped down into
throats ravaged by sand. Salve for
a ululation.
Softness, like honey
slow stirred into the fissures,
holding the two halves
is what this moment
asks for. A time of sweetness.
Radiant amber.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 24, Issue 4.
Samaa Abdurraqib lives in occupied Wabanaki territory, close to the ocean and the mountains. Recently, her poetry can be found in Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest, Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic, Tiny Seeds Literary Journal, and in her self-published chapbook Each Day Is Like an Anchor (2020).See all items about Samaa Abdurraqib
