I Load Guns with Flowers

poem & photo by Mahu Kamal

I.
When my cheeks beg
my eyes to stop
pouring salt lagoons
my unmanicured nails
open my window
to air dry my bark
I want fresh jasmine
to kiss the white walls
but my bedroom smells
like sweat and humid grass
weaved with mango pits

II.
When will I pick
tomatoes from my own
garden where I can be free
I am a raw tomato
a bird who lives
in a cage thinks
the cage is the sky
To be woman a dying
day pulled out into
new light to be
woman to be
long gone
to be woman
to be given
to be owned
to be held

III.
I load guns
with flowers
Caress my temple
with the barrel
and pull the trigger
rose petals will burst
I will lay
engulfed in garden
drowned in salt
the lettuce leaves
blanket me
Prep me for metamorphosis
I will bleed rose water
I am the garden
I am a raw tomato

Petals

About the poet

Mahu Kamal is a writer and artist who graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing. Her work can range from serious to satirical pieces, with a diverse collection of topics, like struggles of people of the Muslim faith around the world and in the United States, women’s struggles, and bringing awareness to mental health issues. Through her work she hopes to understand the absurdity of life, and the human tendency to be creative despite the irrationality of it.