Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Takedown” by Ariesha Mais.

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Takedown

By Ariesha Mais

I unravel the week from my head.

Knots descend like spiders to the sound of

snapping strands as I separate

synthetic from the head-grown.

Friday night’s eyes are in the bathroom window.

Nose against the glass. Fogging.

I am not ready yet.

I remove this temporary hippocampus;

These matted twists, heavy with

deadweight memories.

I unravel the moments I

stood mantis-like at the bus stop, shocked

into motion by boarding bodies. Scrapbook cut-outs

of eyebrows and odd bottom lips. Shots

of eye contact that reminded me I could be seen.

My eyes could be met.

That coffee spill, the burn,

the wrinkles of the hand

extending paper towel. Sunspots.

The high notes I couldn’t reach in every song

I hummed. Reminders that rang like windchimes

as I searched for sleep.

Everything worth forgetting

absorbed into frizz.

I remove this temporary hippocampus,

Myself emerging with every separation

Of the synthetic from the pulsing head-grown,

Until myself is all.

Bleary-eyed and exposed,

Damp,

Like a newborn lamb slowly

soaking up the world, feeling air,

Preparing herself for long-term memory.

My wig lies in wait.

An aegis hooked to the door.

I am not ready yet.

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Copyright © Ariesha Mais

Ariesha Mais is a Black lesbian writer and poet. She grew up in Ajax and is now based in Toronto, pursuing her Bachelor of Creative and Professional Writing. She is a co-managing editor of Arrival Magazine, and her short stories have been published in midnight & indigo and Humber Literary Review Spotlight. You can find her on Instagram, at @aries.mais.

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