Blood Sullied by the Sovereign Will

by IsRa Hassan

Susan Wilkinson, Untitled, Canon, EOS 2000D, 2026. Courtesy of the artist.

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BLOOD SULLIED

by the Sovereign Will

ISRA HASSAN | JuLY 2026 | Issue 53

Poetry

SUBJECTS

I wore a cardigan to hide my excavated heart, forced
to make way for a diorama, one that stores pride

for an America I lured people to think I believed in.
Cardboard sky and sanctioned shelter held me in

a cardamom gloom. Halt bombs from ballooning;
begin with pledging your allegiance to this cynical nation.

As such, be well. God
bless our breached home. Standing

among a citizenry that hates itself, we are
a family on the verge of a cavity divorce.

BLOOD SULLIED BY THE SOVEREIGN WILL

lethargic, veins are ionized by capital liquid,
the land of milk and honey encroached by sadistic flies,
as designed, the populace gets stuck in the gold-laden
mercury, arising in the glow of blood lanterns

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Isra Hassan is Somali-American poet from Minneapolis, MN. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and can be found in DMQ Review, Poetry Wales, Poet Lore, Logic(s) Magazine, New Orleans Review, and elsewhere.