Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman
She would drown in the flood of her own making
She’s pulled apart by the current
Her body now food for the waves
Like the lies that melted her
Blended into her soul; truth just out of reach
Leave me with her
Leave my sorrow in the wake of crashing shores
For her life was so easily taken by falsehood
The moon whispers
Warnings to young women
Who understand their place in the world as fleeting, as dependent on youth and beauty
The words that echo in her mind “I hope she’ll be a fool, that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
As her body plunges into the dark
***
Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman is a bi-racial Muslim writer, historian, poet, and artist. Her first book of poetry The Raven, The Bayou, & The Willow is forthcoming through FlowerSong Press Spring 2022. She is a Brooklyn Poets Fellow, a Rad(ical) Poetry Fellow, and a poet for the Houston Grand Opera & MFAH’s event “The Art of Intimacy.” Her work can be found in (Art) WORDPEACE and Mixed Magazine, (Fiction) Crack the Spine Literary Magazine, (Poetry) Boundless 2021: The Anthology of the Rio Grande River Valley International Poetry Festival, and others.