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Fate or defeat – Yasmine Ahmed-Lea

“To keep myself sane
I fake that this is
A promise of a full life
All the while knowing
It’s work eat run
Get a man get a wife
Work eat bit of sun
Read about that holiday
To New Zealand
That you’ll never take
Too scared you’ll be turned away
At the border because
Your melanin flows too much
Feet thumping faster now
In the grey on the ground
Trying to remember why
This is the place I love
And hate
The most”

from Fate or defeat
Yasmine Ahmed-Lea
in A KALEIDOSCOPE OF STORIES
Muslim Voices in Contemporary Poetry
Coming soon from Lote Tree Press

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