Dress (Aurora Borealis)

—Ambreen Riasat was a victim of an honor killing on April 29, 2016. Thirteen people, including her family members, were arrested in connection to her murder.


See me for miles—

     lightstreaked,
     deathstreaked.

A disturbance.
(I am disturbed.)

     Theatrical
     and skinless.

     Electrical, all
     edge.

A knife of ice
carving the sky.

White blades,
white fathom,

     unbridled.

White that is red
is pink is hue

     is glazed enormity,
     tangerine plush.

And then comes
the blood,

     scarlets on fire.

Why is a girl always
on fire.

What makes her
crackle—

     breathtaking,
     the cut waist,

     thighs rushed
     by smoke,

     roil of voile,
     combustible.

So I loved, laid, slept
for days, blinked,

breathed flame,
paraded like a god.

Gianter than god
and vincible.

     Made of nothing at all.

     Fleshless,
     a fuse of refusals.

And am I beautiful
now, who owns beauty,

waiting for your tongues
to slip by.