Nazifa Islam

Brim and Break

!50!a Virginia Woolf found poem: The Waves

My mother knits moths
in the evening.

Those insects grow pale
and full

like white flowers
and set on me—a pursuit.

I am hems, pinafores, socks
and hard eyes

in the grass.
I am still. A child

I desire
one thing: to love.

Nazifa Islam grew up in Novi, Michigan. Her poems have appeared in Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The Account, and Beloit Poetry Journal among other publications, and her poetry collection Searching for a Pulse (2013) was released by Whitepoint Press. She earned her MFA at Oregon State University. You can find her @nafoopal