Poem of the Day
1981
By Asiya Wadud
in a world the orange sun resets
in a world the orange sun resets
I have walked these streets so often I could
forge the shadows of skyscrapers as they fall
to rest between the sculptured air of midtown.
These eyes an accusation.
Or quiet question
Containing its own answer.
Sat for three days in a white room
a tiny truck of white flowers
was driving through the empty window
A dazzle
of a day,
even though it's two below.
If I seem to patronize and always limit what I say
to the cliches of affection, mother,
and never give a good goddamn what you are doing:
Blue poles (well ?) on the beach
in a snowless winter and
I’m too cold to ask you
Day changes from cannon to morning glory
her body dances death dances in the prell light
beads strung out all through Japan’s public parks, my head,
Now the trees tempt
the young girl below them
A trifle pompously, my love, you move among
the mass of nerve-
tissue in my cranium:
I was a young pilot in World War I, remember?
do you know the feeling of an airplane crashing the water’s edge?
we’ve just traveled 600 miles, and the only person