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published October 2009

Aisha Sharif holds an MFA in poetry from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her poetry has been published in Callaloo, Poemmemoirstory, Touchstone, and MuslimWakeUp! She is also Michael Jackson's #1 fan.

Puberty

by

In Michael’s mir­ror,
his nose is a rot­ten potato.
Dry skin cracks
like an earth­quake.
Pimples sprout
like eyes.

In his mir­ror, girls watch
and whis­per, Ew,
what a big ol’ nose.
Michael pushes in nos­trils,
picks at pim­ples, scrubs
black­heads. Can’t under­stand—
they won’t dis­ap­pear.
Mother fails to con­sole,
Maybe you’re con­sti­pated.
She cleans puss, rubs cream
on blem­ishes. Joseph laughs,
Your nose is the only black thing
about you, boy.

In his mir­ror,
Michael wishes his nose
wiped away.