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English
version
Night Song
let it be night
that the arrows of day be shadowed
& the almond candle of your eyes
shine night
read every word / honey on the wound
let it be day
in the open river
that mountain goat may step to rock
like I step to you
rock of ages
psalm song / palm line
water curl
I give myself to this word
commit to eternity
traced by slender shadows / ask for nothing
still riddled by the bullets
of Mogadishu/ Darfur / distance
political bombast
the son of diaspora
learns to live in shade
without the battle of journey / graze slender
we make ourselves heart-travelers
live near water
& find the longest star
if there is beauty here
we drink it / mouth full of sand
& on the silt of our tongues
comes the tree of words
blossoming into breath
paradise
Night Song by Matthew Shenoda. Reprinted from Seasons of Lotus,
Seasons of Bone (2009) by permission of BOA Editions, Ltd.
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English
version
Continuance
tightly woven in the curls of her hair
the rosetta stone of tomorrow
in every sandstorm, a beginning
muscled in the tension of tides
the whirling of date palms
the journey of exchange
floating on the placid ambit of affection
each strand a key to uncover the temple of understanding
mired by the elastic expansion of dread
trembling before the altars of fear
unearthing a body from the wreck of invasion
the woman frozen, her hands, aged, reminiscent of love
learn to touch the sky like salient arrows
fierce the aftermath of desperation
she unravels her hair from beyond her
drops her curls into sunrise
levies her body towards home
crowded by the darkness of suspect
she brushes her hands to the floor
raises the grain of her wakefulness
watches the river rise green
with a smile across her brow
her eyes made of cowry and gold
she begins in the order of sunset
preparing fish for the fire
she kneads the dough of celebration
gathering kin
in the shade of acacia
she thrusts to the knee
cracks the cane
disseminates sweetness
fibrous light in their mouths
Continuance by Matthew Shenoda. Reprinted from Seasons of Lotus,
Seasons of Bone (2009) by permission of BOA Editions, Ltd.
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| A Note Found in the Tomb of Tutankhamen |
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English
version
A Note Found in the Tomb of Tutankhamen
For the British Museum
Possessor / ignorant of the converse
One geology / cancel another
One past / haunt another
You who does not understand that our speech is prayer
When every arrow of my body
Shoots towards heaven
The hieroglyph of my spine
Made run through my front
Shattered in the folds of my hand
A young boy I was
Rested to this place to be one with Ra
They took me to the valley at Thebes
peace my soul from tomb robbers
Hidden / eternity
Sealed with the doctrine of eternal existence
Now you have unsettled the cataract of the Nile
and disturbed the very sun that shields you
Hard-headed Brit
Did five attempts to steal me not warn you
White man / always to himself a hero
Howard Carter / tomb robber
Take the sterling from your Lord Carnarvon
You cannot buy yourself eternity
This life was never material
Who believes / believes
Impotent in your knowledge beast
Grave robber / blinded by primitive massacre
Unable to not know how
Why was never enough.
Unbeliever!
Alive in my death mask
Eternally a cobra
I am become my own protector
What am I to do in these strange times
3000 years I lay whole
shrouded in my new name
lay distant from the heresy
and you who unwrap me
make my bones degenerate
for a glimpse / think yourself worthy of my touch
unable to embrace mystery.
I sing the song chorused by palm fronds in wind
You have missed the message
You have not seen everlasting.
A Note Found in the Tomb of Tutankhamen by Matthew Shenoda.
Reprinted from Seasons of Lotus, Seasons of Bone (2009) by
permission of BOA Editions, Ltd.
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