Childhood was Mud-Play and Dirty Fingernails - Liyou Libsekal

I was born to a woman whose hands are washed with ritual

balancing act

temperatures and tempers

home grown versus raised afar,

cleansing finales

this, always with translucent crowns on blushing fingertips

I thought her magic lay in age-

in mine,

the earthworms slipped beneath the dirt unsexed and unbothered

simply hydrated to form

and the heart-red soil had to follow suit

under muted hose and desperate hands

---

Liyou Libsekal (born 1990) Ethiopia

Source: allaboutETHIO