Silent Knives — hooligan mag

by Lysz Flo

“My pen is a machete” -Terisa Siagatonu

This rage no one wants to experience
from a BLACK woman

Hands around my throat for me to “hush”—they don’t know
I swallow these knives,
take them out and cut

until there is only limb—
no apologies
no code switch
no screams for the babies
I revive from early graves.

In this throat I duel spells and katanas until
there is no paid leave for killers,
no simple apology from intentional racists;
history a grave of guilty tongues,

with all their fears for life.
As if they knew
what it is to really fear for life.

Air wrenched out of my voice box for me to "hush"—they don't know
I amplify it, sharpen each blade

wield every unfinished scream like
throwing stars
until it severs trauma
in all of our black and brown epigenetics.

I pour blood, smear it like bwa kayman,
use it to purify all the new ancestors
made ahead of their time Until
slavery is a forgotten whisper. .

Requiring I gulp down
the trauma in silence—they don't know
I tend a garden of machetes,
honing sounds like hush.

Lysz Flo is an Afrolatinx, trilingual spoken word artist, author of fiction and poetry, member of The Estuary Collective, and a podcast host of Creatively Exposed and Voodoonauts Summer 2020 Fellow. She released her poetry novel Soliloquy of an Ice Queen, March 2020. Her poems can be found in Royal Rose Mag, Hellebore, Skin Coloured Mag, Digging Press and various anthologies. Online Crystal and Spiritual wellness shop owner at Astrolyszics.com