Flight (extract 2)

a god-given day     utterly radiant

the sky ties on its blue apron     like the mother of all Sundays

who sets out at daybreak     for markets of dawn

in her basket     fresh flowers bloom

southern valley-basin     a read clam     oozing mud-slime

the lakes too are azure     fish swim in them

young women lift their breasts     clear of the village     in the direction of the hives

in forest clearings     everything female is conceiving

a cicada full of tenderness sits     outside the forest-keeper’s hut

how blessed I am     to strike a day like this     the sun up

one of all the world’s living creatures     mine, too, is a life in the light

o God     I know your secret



far from the great river     I discuss new makes of car on a dark street

the air hurts us     you are my blind spot     for so many years now     I’ve held myself apart from things

all I see are the wigs in the rows in front of me     the plastic flowers representing some kind of southern flora

in the shadows of the mountains     you turned into a bitch-wolf     o     Shanban     lover of the jack-fruit of the South

that day I crossed the Shweli River     a dark-skinned daughter of the tropics lay floating     on its reddish waters

o     bare-foot girl     star-like beetles clung to your ragged skirt

and on your neck: the dust of palm trees



2000

FLIGHT (EXTRACT 2)