I don't let my mind
Fool me into thinking
This hindwing creature is lost

Or fool me into thinking
I can swat this
Rapid reflexed Hoover
Out of my existence

I cannot numb
Or treat it with tricks
I can not let this carnivorous creature
Feed on my exposed meat

I could just learn to breathe
And wait for this unwelcome guest
To pass through

When you look at me

I’m Looking at you

You tilt your head

I tilt it with you

Throwing your body back

Scatter the surface light

Onto your polished face

What are you inspecting?

I see you searching with your eyes

Overlooked imperfections

Overcooked in your mind

My purpose abused

Are you perfect today?

Are you good enough tonight?

I imagine you at my age
Younger, stronger and ambitious
You literally cracked your spine
Once healed, cracked again by soil foreign  
That bore you no fruit
But fruit were born from the womb
Of the love of your life

I imagine you had it all
But poverty was placed between your eyes
Tried to go back home
Catch the dream you once had
Build a home your children could inherit
But all they wanted, was to snuggle in your strength
Listen to a strong heartbeat
Reading them nursery rhymes

Tears begin to flood my vision
When I realise, your life
Is mirror to my own
I inherited recycled dreams and hope
From a land that bore me no fruit
When all I wanted, was to inherit extra time with you
Snuggle in your strength
And listen to lullabies

Where are you from?
My answer is
Does it matter?
This question requires a five part answer

Where are you from?
When you say from?
Do you mean -
The road travel by me or my mom?

Where are you from?
If I say Somalia?
Will you leave it there?
Or ask me if I belong to the north, east or the south?  

Where you from, your accent is unfamiliar?
I know, language is imperative
when you're lost.

Where are you from?
The answer is nowhere
I am stranger to places
no matter where I call home.

"Everything is going to be okay, sweetheart"
These words from her Somali tongue
nine thousand miles away
can travel the speed of light

"It's okay. sweetheart"
Feeds the pit of my stomach
lulls the unease to sleep
only a mother can provide

"Just take care of yourself, hooyo"
Passes her lips and into my spine
new roots planting itself,
safely into the ground

Anticipating the split between two colonies
Honeybees swarm to protect their queen

Encircled by her children
The swarm become one nervous system
Moving to the sound of rhythmic beats

I swallowed the swarm
Now safe within my centerpiece
Inside my muscular comb
They found new cavities to live in

He came into my life
To remind me
What pain feels like

He has a pure heart
But a troublemaker
And he stole my eyes

10 years later
I found it
Hidden in rotten flesh
Eaten by fruit flies

In it,
I found a dormant belief
That I deserve to be admired