by Amna Alamir
 |
| “Barren Wood” by Mindy Newman |
Hooded and lonesome, untie
the shrouds and the clouds that
walk among you and I will
gently open inviting you in.
Reach out with tender curiosity
your fingertips, feign a lasso out
of heartstrings and I will share
the taste of the ocean, the many
travels I have bottled up and
tossed at perturbed sailors.
Where they turned their backs on me:
this is night country
this isn’t right country
in the blackness I am suffocating
this isn’t my country.
My body is changing
has taken on your culture
and become momentarily ill.
There are parts of me
I had to give up, I lost
gave to you in exchange
for your acceptance.
I covered myself in barberries
ginger root, cardamom.
I am a rare sighting, now
beyond the star-shaped stars
that float like lucid ribbons
when it is time to die
the earth shivers.
Amna Alamir is a Kuwaiti writer who currently studies and resides in the UK. She is finishing up her MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and is pursuing further research on silence, the female voice, and somatic practices.
