lantern-lit leisure at 3 a.m.
sleepswim chlorine tang like chloroform
energy dissipates in water waves
(marco polo marco polo)
diffraction / refraction
God swears by time of day
and dusk and dawn and night
of eras, ages, aeons
the taste of attr forever heavy on my tongue
cloying; the sweetness of verse
in motion
honeydew, quarter-moon, and cannon
desert-sullen skies and sunbeam –
silky-sticky heat: the kind you gulp down
fruit bat hunger hidden in headlights
and the carcass of palm dates
and my shoes sinking in with
the broken bulb in the forest trail the only light
the hazy orange glancing at skin the only sound
the screech of the shopping trolley
i pushed you in
and we walk on.
______
TEXT:
TASNEEM MAHER
JORDAN