XI. Justice (Reversed)

Self-portrait in justice
by Leslie Joy Ahenda

sunflowers grow from my shoulders to crown me
I eat soil & spit seeds
collect hitlists like hair dropping into ponds
my dagger holds my hand & whispers
patience into rageridden palms

to wait in this October is a brutalism
known only to architects & perennials
so I count my ribs until winter
grip my own chin, say just a little longer now
     all will be known     the time will come
my sunflower panopticon will grow to expose him

Leslie Joy Ahenda (she/her) is a queer black diasporic poet based in Tkaronto. Educated at the University of Victoria, she has poetry published or forthcoming in CV2, filling Station, and Homology Lit, among others.