POEM OF THE WEEK: NATASHA OLADOKUN
Natasha Oladokun
Performance of Rites at Community Inn
Roanoke, VA
taking my hair
in his fingers
quick
I feel
the slightest yank
his back to me before
I turn around
white man
elephant
in a crowded bar
to flay or not to flay
this is the question
always
the body
my body rendered
an open question
whether or not to wash down my wrath
the quick curve
of a question
my hair brought down
with my body
the slightest pull
the whole world
brought down
he says strolling by my table
I love it
Natasha Oladokun is a Cave Canem fellow, poet, and essayist. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the American Poetry Review, IMAGE Journal, storySouth, Birdsthumb, Indie Film Minute, Bearings Online, and elsewhere. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Hollins University, her MFA alma mater.