​​The Aunty Poem (Mi Privilege Es Su Privilege)

I will be your aunty in the new city

where you have not yet met a soul

Come to my table and eat

Teach me your pronouns

I will be your aunty who wires you money

wherever you are stranded in this world

missed your bus your flight

When you’re passing through,

show me how to outline drama eyes like that

I will be your aunty with old-fashioned

button shirts and an ironing board

you can borrow for your interview

I will introduce you to whatever board members I know

Introduce me to your artist friends

You’ll make me look good at my next meeting

You can unfold my couch

Teach me golden hip moves

I will slip you any privilege I grasp

I am your aunty for life

Here are clean sheets,

and my spare key

Copyright © 2022 by Mohja Kahf. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 1, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“I simply wanted to write a poem expressing an ethic of what an older, resourced individual can do to redistribute resources and create care and family-like safety nets for a younger, under-resourced individual. The speaker may feel a little outdated in this world, but that’s where the poem offers a reciprocal ethic, where the person addressed also has the opportunity to make the aunty feel useful and connected with the energies they bring into the picture.”
—Mohja Kahf