Candice Louisa Daquin

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Whispers in the Dust

Don’t mock my flat chest or empty stomach
We didn’t eat for years when we crossed the desert
Our people were left as crystalized markers
Sand blown to glass
A woman holding a baby
A child bending to pick up a mirage
We died in crystal and came back in dune
High and mighty, wind swept in regret
They chased us until our horses ate death
And soon, the only sign we existed
Marks in sand, an outstretched hand
Slow footprints of the dammed
Who sought refuge and found only
Starvation and quiet loss
We ceased being human and became
Whispers in the dust.
.

At the Same Time, in a Different Place

To defend you
When others neither
Cared nor turned in compassion
To lift you
Fallen and become strength
Or voice
I live through your
Existing

Without carrying our genes Our strings may not bind
However my beloved
My blood is yours
Our blood is shared
Our people may not have known us
We know each other
We are inheriting
The pulse, this war
Without

When they came for you
A child who looked unlike herself
Born inside out
They strung you up
Blamed you for their pain
Reveled in
Burning the martyrs

It’s got to stop
Draw a line under it
Chalk on stone
No more
Our tears filled a generation
Like flowers bottled and sent to sea
I defend you by existing
I defy the judgment
Defy being torn down

You may rest
Sleep
Grow over with flowers
Feel easier in your grave
I will stand, take my turn
To defend.

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BIO: A Sephardi Egyptian/French immigrant to America – Candice Louisa Daquin is a practising Psychotherapist and Writer/Editor. She is Senior Editor at Indie Blu(e) Publishing, Poetry Editor for The Pine Cone Review, Editor at BlackBird Press, and Writer-in-Residence for Borderless Journal among others. Daquin’s work is widely published and anthologized, her latest book Tainted by the Same Counterfeit is out September 2022 (Finishing Line Press). www.thefeatheredsleep.com

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