wicked shrubbery
sprouts above our eyes
coiled and wild
like our hearts
the lush supercilium
shields our blessed sockets
maintaining our Calliope vision
Yet you ask me to
inspect
trim
cultivate
the hairs
for we cannot spend
all of our days in the garden
I raise the tweezers
unshaken
my young hands
steady
I tidy Baba’s eyebrows
into obedient rows
I know we must hide
our she-wolf selves
to survive
Vera Sirota is a poet, freelance writer and teacher. She was a NYC public school teacher and teaching artist specializing in writing instruction. She wrote her master’s thesis about using photography as a writing tool for English Language Learners. Vera was raised in a bilingual and bicultural home as the granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Vera serves as a mentor for Girls Write Now, NYC’s premier creative writing organization for high school girls and gender-expansive youth. She is a finalist for The Poetry Barn’s 2022 Poetic License contest. Vera’s poems are forthcoming in the anthology: Ukrainian American Poets Respond.