Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “130 Redux” by Imani Simone Brown.

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130 Redux

By Imani Simone Brown

The Gainesville girl shrouded in light. She

Exasperates me to no end

Shank-Button eyes nothing like the sun

Glare akin to the night. Through

Shrewd speech alone, she wounds decadently

Soaking captured strays in chamomile. She

Trains for obedience, mocked and muzzled

Grazing virgin skin, teasing the sanctioned ache

I wait for her command. Wet

Sweet sanctimony for foreplay. Two tops

too many. The girl from Gainesville bites

Clean through the muscle. She

Lets me watch and tidy up once fed. I

Left fatigue and sweat in the linens turned red

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Copyright © Imani Simone Brown

Imani Simone Brown (she/they) is a Afro-Caribbean educator, poet, and screenwriter from Tkaronto, Ontario. Imani uses their work to highlight divinity in the midst of the mundane in hopes of finding new worldly scripture. Their work formally engages African spirituality, decolonizing methodologies, and queer love. Imani has a Master’s in Literatures of Modernity and has presented their academic research at institutions such as the University of Southern California and Florida Atlantic University.

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