Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa

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I Tied My Teeth To My Feet & Ate My Own Testament

a man broke my godmother’s jaw with headlice
she turned into sweetgrass and goat-skin
i wrapped my fingers in my stomach stuffed in a bucket
got better at sacrificing things
my hands hung in Porter’s stable 
wore cornrows and creole
so no one noticed my eyes were inside out
even my family never knew which way to bury me
i will forget

i will remember my family
who did not know in which direction to hug
my neck skipped alongside a double decker
i wore deep wave and perm
tossed pop music across Charlton park
became brilliant at stealing myself
unzipped my tracksuit and pickpocketed my brain
the rest of my mouth is stored in a sack of yam
breaks apart the mother i break

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SAFIYA KAMARIA KINSHASA is a British born Barbadian raised poet and dancer. Her first full collection The Inheritance is forthcoming with Out-Spoken Press.