kan·da·ka
noun
- birther of nations, blade twice the length of her body; she takes the throne not mother daughter sister but prayer rite; stitches this ragged sand with her sinew.
- amaurosis prayer god with tribal marred cheek cuts her own umbilical cord; frees the ravenous women inside her.
- loves the land dry to cull off false prophets and their sons calls it slash and burn agriculture names herself
- lord of two lands, the nile a catch in her skirt
- locust bringer; devours hearts of British colonists in the sun; womanhood all fanged and drooling
- a force never for sale
- modern monocular prophetess; reads fortunes with crushed cowry shells, pitted pothole finger tips, melted tarry teeth, binging on rickshaw fumes, rolling east with the horizon.
- say thank you when she comes to your town
- barefoot overthrower of dictators’ trills to stand attention white tobe thobe trailing river water; her dances cauterize the vocal cords of soldiers
- gold earrings singing in the wind out the window into the night
- jabal marra former oasis of the black doved sibyl, blade twice the length of her body
- I beg her come back split me in two
Nadaa is a poet, creative non-fiction writer and visual artist who focuses on documenting pop-culture, diasporic aesthetics and current socio-political cultural commentary with rapid-fire detail and urgency. Her work creating hybrid and experimental forms draws inspiration from the disciplines of linguistics, cultural and performance studies. This multidisciplinary approach allows her to jump through a variety of forms with an aim to transcend genre. She is currently attending UC Davis for an MFA in Creative Writing.
Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash
