Beetles born out of wedlock carve
family trees into existence.
In their lapse of judgments and laps
of river along the muddied shore, they kill
the sycamore.
A child chalks on rock to remain
a remnant ever reminiscent of where
humanity meets erosion and where
a petrified man’s head turns wood. He is
only revealed at half-moon.
Sycamore stripped bare of bark
gapes open its mouth in hopes of
a misguided wanderer to prey on.
A hunger satiated means nothing to someone who can’t die,
but residue of a traveling soul soothes the toothache
of molding and mossing branches.
—
Fairouz Bsharat is a senior Literary Arts major at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School and the current Virginia Youth Poet Laureate for Chester. She’s won the Fledge National Fiction and Nonfiction Competition, been named a Young Poet in the Community by the PSOVA, received two Scholastic Gold keys, and a Scholastic Gold Medal and American Voices Award. Fairouz has had her work published in GSU’s Fledge, among other places. To keep up with her work follow her @fairouzpoetry on Instagram.
