How to be Daughtered

Ugonna-Ora Owoh's poem, "How to be Daughtered," is in Short Circuit #03, Short Édition's quarterly review. Ugonna-Ora is a poet and Journalist from Nigeria. His works has appeared in Teen Vogue, Vogue Business, Independent and others. Find him on twitter @ugonnaoraowoh

In the country of your birth, you learn to call redeemer, to call magician, to call the code HELP, in a tongue that your father was never fathered in. You learn fear is not enough to nurse submission. Your mother names you without consent, burns your father's tongue— before giving you the sort of strength August children are born with. How do you dream of a  place you never remember?  You have dreams that are surreal—  dreams about grandparents  who crossed the Sahara as Bedouins. Their black skins splintered into brown.  Remember you are not the daughter your  mother wished to have— Daughter 

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