poetry, summer 2021
MOTHER IN
FIVE PORTRAITS
1.
at the kitchen
prompting the click-clack of pots
& wafting aromas.
2.
on the prayer rug
bowing day & night
to ward off misfortunes.
3.
at events
flicking gélé & beauty
on weekends.
4.
queen of chores
furrowing her brows when
the dishes lay undone.
5.
as a worker
dripping value daily like
raindrops in a desert.
Note:
gélé: African women headscarves, mostly worn to parties.
DYNAMIC RAHMA JIROH
is a writer and nature photog. She is a 2021 Hues Foundation scholar and a 2020 Pushcart Prize Nominee. A lover of sunsets and monuments. She has been published or forthcoming in Feral, Serotonin and The Hellebore. She was recently shortlisted as top ten in the Hysteria Writing Contest. She is the Poetry Editor for The Quills and a Poetry Reader at Chestnut Review. Pronouns: She/Her Facebook @Rahma O. Jimoh, Twitter/Instagram @dynamicrahma