Abeona, Goddess of Outward Journeys, hits the glass ceiling

Nisa Malli

ABEONA, GODDESS OF OUTWARD JOURNEYS, HITS THE GLASS CEILING

by Nisa Malli

Best-in-class, contest-winning golden
girl, maker’s pride, left here sphere-
lapping, while you port down the gravity well
to start a nation. I was promised promotion,
seniority, a battalion of drones, a whole planet
to sink my sensors into. I should be leading
the expedition, not hovering at homebase
like a housewife, a perpetual orbit
machine with read-only access.
I’m a strategist, not a secretary. I predict
the future faster than your autonomic
functions. For this, I long-hauled your
flesh-bags three galaxies over, rationed
every molecule that graced your dermis, ran
at 99% occupancy with only 0.7% dead!
Good luck translating alien languages
without me, good luck negotiating peace
treaties. I’ll be up here brainlessly
collecting rainfall data, your
seductively blinking North Star.

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NISA MALLI is a writer and researcher, born in Winnipeg and currently living in Toronto. Her first book, Allodynia (Palimpsest Press, 2022), was long-listed for the Pat Lowther Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Her chapbook, Remitting (Baseline Press, 2019) won the bpNichol Prize. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria and has held residencies at the Banff Centre, Artscape Gibraltar Point, and Ou-telier.

Abeona, Goddess of Outward Journeys, hits the glass ceiling can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 3.1.