Cover Photo: two sisters with dark brown hair, brown skin, and large hoop earrings sitting at a dining table, talking and laughing in front of a window with abstract trees in the distance; one is holding a wine glass. painted illustration is in "spice tones" of brown, saffron, crimson, and burnt orange
Illustration by Sirin Thada for Catapult

Self-Portrait with Cumin, Saffron, and Star Anise

To Cumin, Saffron, and Star Anise, sisters / of the roasted goat and rice ritual, daughters / of smoke and gossip, glowing and bloodwarm

Self-Portrait with Cumin, Saffron, and Star Anise

After Safia Elhillo

squeal of a secret over telephone wires,
lipstick on the hem of a skirt, gym shorts
with the keys and the cards in the underwear drawer.

which is now a makeup drawer,
I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the superior wrist flick,
the tender tremble of an eyelash upon ink dressing,
thumb-licked and charmed against slips, dips,
or worse—a dash too blunt for the crease.

& to the smooth stroke after, I pledge
an allegiance of color: Glazed Sugar,
Cabaret, Gold Gleam. Blunt in the bathroom
to smoke up the street. Rustle of coats,
clamor of boots, hush of palms
hustling heat from wintry air.

of the roasted goat and rice ritual, daughters
of smoke and gossip, glowing and bloodwarm,
allegiant to nothing but the fan’s whirling dervish,
I pledge allegiance to the pleasure of what needs doing
after:

Sadia Hassan is the author of Enumeration (Akashic Books, 2020), part of the New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Set. Winner of the 2020 Hurston/Wright College Writers Award, Hassan currently writes and teaches in Oxford, MS, where she is pursuing her MFA at the University of Mississippi. More of her work can be found in The American Academy of Poetry, Boston Review, Longreads, and elsewhere.