i am not the mediator

By: zara r. ahmed

only a fool 

would think this war has not wounded me, 

an inadvertent casualty: 

heart bruised like a browned peach.  

gone is the pliability, the respectability, 

the rose flower in the palm of the oppressor. 

this cataclysm has stripped me of my petals, 

leaving but an array of thorns 

for the taking.

zara r. ahmed (she/they) is a South Asian poet based in Toronto, Canada. Her work draws on and deconstructs themes of intimacy and isolation through the lens of atmospheric imagery. Zara's work can be read online at @ahmzers on Instagram and Twitter.