We gold, girl

after barbara jane reyes

we, she-wolf sirensong, girl, we hyena herd, thick
-skinned, slattern-furred, we wicked-willed, girl

we carry blackboards of battlefields on our backs, girl
we blade-slipped-in boots, gangland, guerrilla attacks, girl

we  virgin voyages rattled boats razorwire welcome signs
our mud of mines, our diamonds to blood let, we 24 carat

we no metaphor’s core classed for a whitewashed world’s blackout
we own this. dark earth has sought us out, girl. we no debt to doubt

we no camphor, girl. we water, whole, holy hell, girl.
we iconoclast, outcasts; we, our own idol & temple, girl.

we gold-leaf goddesses. we word worship through wars
we bicycle-chained, shotgun-schooled, we machete-brooched

we boom, speed, shoot; we no empty rounds, we rip, we rise, we roar
we were hunted out of the sea so now we kiss like a storm-tossed shore

we learn to live. we got this. we own this space.
we own us. own the flesh, own the face.

we din before we are drowned, girl. we take ground,
we turn sky. we make some noise, girl.

we put down their mirrors. we see by sound,
we hear each in the other’s eyes, girl.

By Scherezade Siobhan

Biography:

Scherezade Siobhan is an Indo-Roma Spanish psychologist and writer. Her work has been published and/or is forthcoming in tnYPress, Black and Blue Writing, Bluestem, The Nervous Breakdown, Cordite Poetry Review, Words Dance, Electric Cereal, Winter Tangerine Review and others. Her first poetry collection “Bone Tongue” was released by Thought Catalog in 2015. She can be found at www.viperslang.tumblr.com/