“Sunflower Ghazal” by Veronika Gorlova
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Sunflower Ghazal” by Veronika Gorlova.
Sunflower Ghazal
By Veronika Gorlova
In the photo we are back home—you are holding me in a field of sunflowers
blooming over our heads. My eyes squinting, my tiny face encased in sunflowers.
I dream of us running through a field, sunflowers igniting all around us, bursting
into suns. Sparklers crackle and pop—sounds of war coming off sunflowers.
A woman in Henichesk confronts a Russian soldier. In his hand, a gun. In her palm,
seeds. Put them in your pockets. When he dies he will become sunflowers.
Sirens are going off in Zaporizhzhia. My uncle hides in the hallway with his cats.
My cousin’s stationed in Bakhmut, tanks holding the line. Under their treads: sunflowers.
I get a message from you, tucked in between news updates. I almost broke down
in tears at Walmart because they didn’t have any sunflowers.
Copyright © Zico
Previously published Arc Poetry Magazine.
Zico is a Cairo born and raised hip-hop and spoken word artist. He writes with a sharp, poetic pen from a personal and intimate perspective, hoping his words can create whatever small moments of solace art can offer. His first poetry collection, Reeds: The Ideal Gathering of The Unwell, was released in September 2024 and collects pieces on personal and collective diasporic experiences, calling us in to find comfort and consolation in sharing them with each other.
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