Postcolonial-settlement’s daughter

Dorothy Lune

after ‘Ancestors’ by Ada Limón

I originate from a brick of obsidian

ground, the contents

of which are roots, the roots

of which were braided into existence

by one thousand serpents of lava

that slivered through the rock

as an act of rightful retaliation—

I love my rage, I love my protest.

Imagine a window unhinged, dancing

right above ground, causing

lace-like shade over a pasture of moss—

my ribs went that way, go there.

But I was born green & bone-like

on the most gorgeous ochre

without window panes or metal

frames. I am an absorber of the light.

DOROTHY LUNE is a Yorta Yorta writer, born in Australia. Her poems have appeared in Overland, Mascara Literary Review & more. She runs the substack “Ladybug Central” at dorothylune.substack.com

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The Orchard Path