Sunday, April 7, 2013

a poem by safia jama



August


High heels roost
beside Mary Janes
  I check to ensure
  each has a mate

I dip hands in wool
scarves where birds
   abandon fragrant
   poison eggs...

I keep old dresses
company, this one
   found Christmas
   eve, fully lined.

In the highest place
 silk suits hang  
    in plastic hostage
    to weddings.

Climbing down,
I snag a nail,
   its single eye
   rusted open.





Safia Jama received a B.A. from Harvard College and has studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Slade School of Art.  A Cave Canem fellow, she has received writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Public Library.  Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Reverie, The New Sound, and the Cave Canem Anthology.  She currently lives, writes, and paints in New York.



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