Ode to My Homegirls by Safia Elhillo

31 Days of Poetry: Day 14.

For the month of August I’ll be participating in The Sealey Challenge and attempting to read a book of poetry every day (or at least a poem or two), and every day I’ll be sharing a poem with you. If poetry isn’t your thing, a month isn’t too long a time, I promise. But if it is, I hope this series affords you an opportunity to discover some new favourites or revisit some old ones.

The 14th of August’s offering is ‘Ode to My Homegirls’ by Safia Elhillo, which was first published in her 2022 collection, ‘Girls That Never Die’ (One World, US; Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, 2024).

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Ode to My Homegirls

smelling of orange rind       of cardamom
    most beautiful girls in the world   wake up bitch
        we're getting waffles      you can keep crying


but you're going out      my marriages
    my ablibis   my bright & hardy stalks
        of protea      & all i know of love i learned


at thirteen      dialing basma's home phone
    by heart          to three-way call whatever boy
       so that weeks later       when the phone bill came


only basma's familiar number beside the time stamp
    clearing my name      basma herself staying awake
        for hours   to hang up the phone after


you who send pictures of your rashes
    to the group text      & long voice notes
         from the bathtub      your laughter echoing  against the tiles


you who scatter the world's map      piling into
    cheap buses & budget airlines      four of us asleep
        in my dorm bed      six of us overflowing


my studio apartment      false lashes for weeks after
    like commas in my every pillowcase      you clog my toilet
         & admit it      you text me screenshots


from the gucci fashion show   getting rich
    so i can get you this      & when i lived alone
         & that man followed me


one night home from the six train
    up lexington      & into the hallway
       tried for hours to break open my front door


you took turns from all your cities      & stayed
    overnight with me on the phone        for three days
       snoring & murmuring in your sleep

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It’s the honouring of true friendship in this poem, and the intimacy and tenderness of its depiction that I love so much - the way it perfectly illustrates how we might flourish, or just better survive the hardships of life, when we choose and are chosen by our people. If poems about womanhood- the best of it and the tragedies of it- sound like something you’d appreciate, I highly recommend this collection.

See you on day fifteen,

Tasnim