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Monday, January 1, 2024

DOMINIQUE AHKONG—"GHAZAL FOR FAMILIAR WOMEN" (Issue 27)

GHAZAL FOR FAMILIAR WOMEN

In the way we can spot kinfolk from the back 
by their gait, these women unknown to me, backs 

facing me, feel related. More than the long sleeves 
and bucket hats, it’s the eroded downstroke of their backs 

that’s vernacular, it’s what they do not do, even while 
their eyes are watching God disrobe and back 

away. They hold out their veins, unblinking, while black 
bags are hung from their necks like ropes. Back-

aches persist but do not fracture their language in this way. 
Comfort is a drained infusion pump, three days a foe. Back 

at home, as night falls, a husband holds his wife’s hand. 
His daughters will rub their mother’s unrobed back 

and cover it after her body’s churning. Her 
requested balm: atonal invocations back to back. 

Will you embody your name, Dominique? See your mother 
plunge into the cold ocean, then turn to float on her back.



ABOUT THE POET 

Dominique Ahkong is an Arizona-based writer of Chinese-Mauritian descent. 
Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming from RHINOFugueThe Ocean 
State Review, and The Southern Review. She co-edits the newly-revived Shō 
Poetry Journal. More: dominiqueahkong.com



ABOUT SUGAR HOUSE REVIEW 


We loved reading the work that we’ve published (clearly), and we want an 
opportunity to better hear our contributors. We're featuring audio recordings of 
poems from our pages, read by the poet. This an open invitation to all contributors 
from any of our issues, we were delighted to print your work, now we’re eager to 
hear it.

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