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Poem-a-day

Critique of My Thighs

Untitled Document
—after Lucille Clifton

on the platform i pray
i don’t have to wait too long
for the next train—my girth
too loud, disruptive
for this crowd,
in the elevator i make myself
small, recall Nani’s final days
how my aunt
dressed her after a shower
that memory her skin on bones
follows me everywhere
how she was only slightly there,
but for those family heirloom hips
those dominant gene thighs
i wish i was proud of this pear
that follows me everywhere
of what abundance
adorns this temple
and wrote for it an homage
and not a lament

Copyright © 2025 by Fatima Malik. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 11, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Fatima Malik

Fatima Malik
Photo credit: Daniel Restrepo
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Omotara James is the Guest Editor of June. Read or listen to a Q&A with James about her curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

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Livestreaming My Grandfather’s Funeral Stephanie Colwell 06/10/2025
on superstitions Mckendy Fils-Aimé 06/09/2025
Beyond a Mountain Witter Bynner 06/08/2025
Song: Let Us Go Back Vita Sackville-West 06/07/2025
Never Admit Your Mistakes Deborah Hauser 06/06/2025
We Dreamed You Keisha-Gaye Anderson 06/05/2025
The Collection Room Maya Marshall 06/04/2025
a letter to charlie parker Dior J. Stephens 06/03/2025
Come One, Come All! Step Right Up! Welcome to the World of Wonders! Ama Codjoe 06/02/2025
The End Is the Beginning Mónica Gomery 06/01/2025

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