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21st Century Poetry: Woman, life, freedom

by CLAIRE BOOKER

They’ve gathered against walls
like trellised fruit, ripening in each other’s sun.
Black cloth dies under their feet.
Discarded headscarves flap from roof-tops.
Sacrificial plaits, flagrant as raven wings,
lie scattered among blood-scented roses.
Mothers, daughters, sisters are flying
into the heat, their mouths uncaged,
voices angry birdcall.
They’re learning to untie knots –
recrafting hijabs into funeral wear, cushion-fill,
drapes for when the moon is bright.
A stitch here, a stitch there...
Mahsa’s shame will be unpicked.

 

Claire Booker lives in Brighton. Her pamphlet The Bone That Sang is published by Indigo Dreams. 21st-century Poetry is edited by Andy Croft, email [email protected].

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