"Sthandwa sami (my beloved, isiZulu)" by Yrsa Daley-Ward

my thoughts about you are frightening but preciseI can see the house on the hill where we make our own vegetables out backand drink warm wine out of jam jarsand sing songs in the kitchen until the sun comes upwena you make me feel like myself again.

Yrsa Daley-Ward’s ‘Sthandwa sami (my beloved, isiZulu)’ is one of the most personal and revealing accounts of love on this list. The poem comes from her collection bone, which tackles some of the deepest aspects of humanity, including religion, desire, womanhood, race, and vulnerability.