National Poetry Month Day 2! Today’s prompt is to use an obscure word from the “Haggard Hawks” Twitter account. I chose KIDDLE (v.): to embrace warmly, to caress:

Day 2 - KIDDLE ME

By Farah Lawal Harris

don’t kid me. 

kiddle me. 

embrace me warmly,

firmly hold so that the cold 

squatting in my soul 

finally heeds our decree to leave.

drop it like it’s hot.

hug me til i’m hot,

‘til fear ceases

and all my broken pieces

scattered on scorched earth 

throughout the DMV

decompose and rebirth

a sight of me that is unseen;

‘til soul seeds 

bloom from red clay earth, 

overwinter, and grow true leaves. 

love the true me, 

not the perception projected 

upon the person you see. 

in front of me, 

the mirror, unclean,

reflects a distorted image of Farah. 

“Don’t kid me,” I request

as I apply my third coat of mascara. 

“Yes, I will kiddle you,” replies 

the woman in the the mirror.

*

Read my 30 poems in 30 days on my blog (link in bio).

#napowrimo #napowrimo2022 #30in30