i moor my self on these ssese islands, rather than wait
for my soul to sop while transoceanic, with raw ankles
lake nalubaale buoys me as i stage
a revolt against you for daring to baptize
my obsidian skin in sin, to soak my largest organ
in your guilt, i say no more
no longer will i pacify your shame, your desperate claws
at absolution. take your projections & pathetic fallacy
feed those tears to the ancient crocodiles of our nile
unblink the noble savage & uncuff the magical
negro to take back our final hour. foreign iron
evaporates from our wrists & clasping shaky hands
in reverence, we, my sisters & me, submerge
return to our all-forgiving mother, the sea
Tramaine Suubi is a multilingual writer from Kampala. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her forthcoming debut is a full-length poetry collection titled phases, which will be published in January 2025. Her forthcoming second book is also a full-length poetry collection titled stages, which will be published in January 2026. Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins, will publish both books. Tramaine serves as the managing editor of Writivism.