"Highland sonnet with missing histories" by Alycia Pirmohamed
The more English I acquire, the further I am from my family.
— Ocean Vuong
In July, the earth opens up and eats my language.
What slips through the fertile soil afterward?
The body of roseroot protrudes — slightly strange,
the colour of liquorice replacing its yellow stages.
In a black plastic bag, its contents rotting
somewhere in a landfill in north Edmonton,
all my formative memories decompose.
We left that house so quickly, there was no time
to pack our sentimental and social possessions.
What slips through the fertile soil afterward?
Every season it becomes increasingly clear
I am further and further away from my family.
— Alycia Pirmohamed is a writer and academic based in Scotland. She is the author of the poetry collection Another Way to Split Water.
