I never knew the fear of
a face in full view
until I met him
show me an eye, nut-brown, lined
with sparse lashes
a nose, round-
tipped but long and narrow
thin lips, barely covering
small teeth with smaller gums
when dissected, I can hold
them close, roll them in my palm
blow on them for good
luck. snake eyes
tossed up in the air
kick them around
but put them together
and I cower in fear
Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a writer and an educator. She is a recent SFSU Graduate with an MFA in Creative Writing (Distinguished Honors), where she now teaches Creative Writing. Two of her poems have recently been published in anthologies, one in iO Literary magazine and the second is in a book called 'Show us your Papers' which is about being othered in America. A chapter from her new novel, The Poppy Flower, has been accepted into an anthology called “Taboos and Transgression” (Madville Publishing, 2021). Sabina is the recipient of the Joe Brainard Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction, the Wilmer award in short fiction, and first place in Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship. She currently resides in Northern California with her husband and two children, five hens, and four rabbits.
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