Poetry by Mallory

Paradoxical Belongings

Sunflower

"So, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
Never enough for both."
-Ijeoma Umebinyuo, Questions for Ada

Growing up as a sunflower in a field of dasies,
Who knew the lack of color could be so blinding?
Even now, as other sunflowers have taken root around me,
Their centers bright and looking towards the sky,
Mine is dark, lost to the tradition of worshipping the sun.


This poem was published in the 2019-2020 ed. of The Crucible: Earlham College's Literary and Visual Arts Magazine.