Safia Elhillo

From “Girls That Never Die”

a girl     buried to the chest in red earth         her wrists bound beneath the soil with twine    a crowd gathers to father her                 its infinite hands      curved loosely around a stone                   small enough that no single throw   is named as cause of death           no single hand       accountable to the blood the girl   undaughter         unnamed unfaced         undone from the lineage her photographs               pulled already from bookshelf   from walls    her father among the hands             his pebble streaked with quartz      the first to rise to carve the air & arc     toward the girl the rootless tree          faceless & erect & perhaps the stones             twisting like fireworks                        the girl their nucleus                   rise    & rise for a time                  opposite of rain opposite of  hail & perhaps the silence a beat too long                       & another another                    & then a rustling of  wings                        above the girl a flock                   thick mixed cloud of avifauna          partridge & nightjar & golden sparrow                  & avocet & lapwing               & every other sort of  plover        & ibis & heron & gulls though the sea    is far & to the north & the minutes pass & the girl is untouched & each bird in its beak        tongues a stone • • [what if  i will not die] [what          will govern me then] [how         to govern me then] [what bounty           then            on my name] [what stone       what rope              what man will be my officer]