C18H10N2O4
-The serial number of all the storage facilities
That look like me
In varying shades
Of historical resilience
Let me tell you about this vault
For which you contribute monthly
In condescension
A twenty-first century convenience
Born from a prejudice of antiquity
A safety deposit box for a hatred
Born of insecurity
I am a blanket
Your stares no longer intimidate me
I am a polyglot
My tongues are many, and free
Accented
And uninhibited by your definitions of ability
I am of the earth
Of a beauty
Beyond boundaries
And walls you set up artificially
I am of faith
And a God Whose Love does not discriminate superficially
Substantiated by the certainty
Of intertextuality
Let me expound with an analogy
By Dendrochronology
My rings keep count
Of centuries
Of a growth that smites your animosity
The hinges are bulging
The box has reached capacity
Lay down your yoke
Your ignorance
Your ravaging need
To perpetuate supremacy
At the cost of humanity
By demonizing and vilifying majorities
And minorities
It’s time for some respect
Wouldn’t you agree
Aaishah Mayet was born and bred in the City of Gold, Johannesburg, South Africa. She currently works in the Healthcare sector which, for her, has bridged the frontiers of our shared human experience. As a self-confessed bibliophile of many years, literature remains, at once, her teacher and her sanctuary. Her works include Haiku published in the Lotosblute, as well as poetry published online in the Agbowo Limits issue, Poetry Potion, Active Muse and Amaliah.