This work was first published in Spread the Word’s Young Writers Collective Anthology, 2025. This anthology stands as a testament to the courage, creativity, and growth of a remarkable group of young poets who have spent seven months exploring the power of language and self-expression. The anthology is more than a collection of poems—it is a celebration of emerging voices, of stories told with boldness and vulnerability.

All of the poems can be read here on our website, or you can download the Young Writer’s Collective Anthology to read as a PDF.

Devoured by Husna Memon

Hung and quartered, open for your delight.
Limbs testing faith like last year’s kidless goat.
A sacrifice – take your hand off their throat.
Clingfilm cocoon, sausage, sous vide, airtight
Oozing inwards, triple cooked egg-white
Sockets salivate, digits slyly gloat
Puckering seams filled with folded note
-s – hook to the neck – a welcomed backbite.
Bodies and personas begin to turn.
Punctured and charred. Soft tyres. Bitumen. Bound
by joints, I am presented before you.
Anticipation floods our tongues, we yearn
Flayed, capitalising on each pound.
I pervade even after the last chew. 

About Husna Memon

Husna Memon (they/she) is a London-based artist, educator and poet. They are interested in exploring the intersectional experiences of bodies in the diaspora in their practices. Their poetry addresses topics and themes of language, migration, identity and belonging. Husna has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art & Art History from Kingston University.