For Belly Mujinga
Who knew a white man’s spit
could kill you? We all did -
didn’t we? Their words, their tongues
have often been the death
of us called other. But this, too literal.
He aimed his sickness at you like a bullet.
I wonder if I ever passed you
at Victoria, on the way to fresh
sea air? I wish I could go back,
invite you along, sit
on the Brighton rocks
eating chips, salt healing
your lungs, miss
the last train home.
could kill you? We all did -
didn’t we? Their words, their tongues
have often been the death
of us called other. But this, too literal.
He aimed his sickness at you like a bullet.
I wonder if I ever passed you
at Victoria, on the way to fresh
sea air? I wish I could go back,
invite you along, sit
on the Brighton rocks
eating chips, salt healing
your lungs, miss
the last train home.
Hanna Thomas Uose is a British Japanese writer and interdisciplinary strategist, facilitator and coach for social change. Her poetry has been published and is forthcoming in Bad Form, Badlands and The Selkie. She is currently writing her first novel and will be working towards her MA in Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia from 2021. She lives in London. @hannathomas | @hannamade
