Jemima Khalli is a graduate of English Literature & Creative Writing from Liverpool. She has a fond interest in cultures, feminism and ancestry. Her fictional works have previously been published on online platforms and she co-edited her university’s first anthology of short stories. Having focused on short stories and prose Jemima is now exploring poetry. This is her first time writing for Sonder.

– Fathers

one day
men
will realise
they too
gave birth
and they will
notice scars
where they
removed
their child

– Wounds

look at me.
i don’t want to
heal scars
mask marks
and hide stains
that have soaked
to your bones
who am i
to remove
the essence
of you?
show me your wounds
let me love them
let me have wounds too

– Ethnicity

baby
please don’t cut yourself
up into eights, halves and quarters
it makes it harder to hold you

– Abuse

how can you spit
where you had slept
and hit
skin
of the country
you lived in

*All work is the rightful property of the author and is distributed with their permission.