Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Nightwalkers” by Ciku Gitonga.

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Nightwalkers

By Ciku Gitonga

I wake up with my mouth bitter.

Drunk last night

I dropped my bike on the staircase

coming up.

Mom is sitting in the living room

in silent rage,

and I croak, “Hey—

Did I bring the bike in?”

She watches me crawl

to the toilet bowl.

My skirt from last night gone—

“You were exposed,”

she says, “I had to cover you.”

She wants me to know that she saw.

Through my bedroom wall

I hear her pacing—

I know her hands shake.

Her mouth hisses little prayers.

She stays awake when I’m away

She sees my legs splayed

on the butcher’s plate.

She hates women like me—

nightwalkers.

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Copyright © Ciku Gitonga

Previously published in flo., 2022.

Ailsa Gitonga is a writer and columnist whose work has been published in literary magazines such as Ellipsis Zine, flo. and Cypress Press. She lives in Montreal and works for a queer nonprofit.

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