Safia Elhillo

yasmeen

i was bornat the rupture the root wherei split from my parallel self  i split fromthe girl i also could have been& her name / easy / i know the storyall her life / my mother wanteda girl named for a flowerwhose oil scents allour mothers /petals wrungfor their perfume i was plantedland became ocean became land anewits shape refusing root in my fallow mouthcleaving my life neatly& my name / taken from a dead womanto remember / to fill an aperture withcut jasmine in a bowlour longingour mothers’wiltinggarlands hanging from our necks