Poem of the Day
1981
By Asiya Wadud
in a world the orange sun resets
in a world the orange sun resets
That is why uprooted fields meandered in the midst of roads
Sound a brake followed nothing it’s flower withers between ninety-two cobblestones.
the glance is filtered in the plaited reflection of glass buildings
So quick were the men to agree to circumcision.
They all stumbled around the city for days.
Then my brothers killed them. Bless their rampaging
Those lolling china heads and rag-stuffed arms
will never love us in return, said Rilke,
whose mother dressed him like a girl, whose charms
One last stop, he says. And they drive to Westside Lanes.
I grew up bowling. I don’t want to bowl. It was raining.
We’re not going to bowl, the circus carpet dark with gum
Okay A nightingale
does sing
outside this window
Sleeping within earshot of the Aegean
once more, I forget where I am
a second & mistake the surfs white noise
for rain, unheard-of here
A toe dances under my nose My eye
Takes it from there, moving on up peekaboo style
Over ankles and calves past kneecaps to thighs—
To maintain these depths of misery
takes work given my buoyant disposition;
for every sill of my flesh