jamila

(for the women of Afghanistan)

i can only imagine what it feels like
to exist as a secret in plain sight.
as mortar between bricks—
the afterthought
where humanity drags its fingertips

[yet]
you sit firm amid these rigid clay cells,
firing as a synapse that holds
half a world together

you provide respite to those
drawing blood from knuckles
in search of answers
among wreckage

you birth nations
but somehow
fall as dust
to the weight of stones
again and again

oh, how i long to light a match
that burns the veil
before first light

i am ready, jamila,
just say the word

Erika Seshadri (she/her) lives on an animal rescue ranch in Florida with her family. When not caring for tame critters or feral children, she can be found writing. Her work has recently appeared in Stonecrop Magazine, Burningword Literary Journal, Nine Cloud Journal, Gastropoda, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, and others. Her piece, ‘Your Every Breath,’ placed second in the 2022 Dreamers Magazine Flash Fiction Contest.