ISSUE II

22 SIENNA SOLSTICE
“I paint flowers so they will not die.” -Frida Kahlo
Well we aren’t really shopping together
it’s just me recognizing her
portrait by the cash register
in the nearby farmer’s market—
well, a parking lot corner with
beachy air, a few gourds and prices marked for “annuals”
(which i learn means flowers that just die by the end of the year never to return)
(i wonder if Frida had annuals and knew to call them “annuals”)
(was it annuals that inspired her to paint them because they always die)
(and she kept them alive)
Thinking what the hell is her portrait doing in this small town market
pale faces everywhere like daisies
or ghosts
if she were here i wouldn’t dare approach her, all
smock and big earrings and tied up hair and perhaps a bag strap across her body
as i’ve met heroes and celebs before, put a foot in my mouth
and kicked myself with it,
still waiting for the right time to message remember me
so we can celeb and collaborate?
(or better yet
someone to approach me) no,
like how my man and i keep each other at arm’s length,
it’s just not the right time,
i’m not who i yet want to be
in this frozen summer
like
should i have thrown something at that man’s car
when two weeks before in the same neighborhood
i walked down the street
like Frida may have through an aisle of annuals
and he screamed
for me
to go back to where i came from 3 times
Flower shoppi
Emily Ahme
should i take a petal out of Frida’s book
and paint flowers and feminism and my Egyptianism
and elephants and doves instead
yet here i am
returning anyway for fruit and flowers
just from a distance
Photography by Milena Correia