AMINA SAÏDthey exiled my body inside my own body
they struck my name from all the records
until the wedding of the two banks
I’ve borne a gap in myself like a drowned man’s mouth
December has disappeared behind the horizon
I’ve called—only silence paid any heed
I’ve seen the centuries lost before ours
the pomegranate tree reflowered among the tombstones
my town was changing leaders and my earth
its ornament: a cloud at the side of the sunrise
why seek a place when we are the place
my shadow has climbed a long path toward me
one day I entered the house of language
I’ve set two birds in the place of my heart
I’ve crossed the mirror of the poem and it has crossed me
I’ve entrusted myself to the flash of the word
I’ve set down a rebellious love in the springtime of trees
and freed my hands so the doves would fly o√
—mary ann caws
The Earth
carried sky first
born from a longing for light
the bird carried his cry
the holy stones
borrowed their form
from the sun the moon
and still the earth
carried the sky first
then came man
his extreme distress
around his cry
the matrix of silence
in his look more than anywhere
death