POEM OF THE WEEK: NATASHA OLADOKUN

 

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Natasha Oladokun

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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

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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.