The photo features a dark-haired woman
gazing with imperious disinterest
from an open doorway out across
the narrow walkway. We know
she is no strumpet touting her wares –
there’s nothing lurid nor enticing
in her make-up, garb nor pose.
What the photo does not see
is what she does and is trying to ignore.
We know the woman works in
the bar directly across […]
a woman who lives
where aurora dances
where earth sleeps beneath snow
for half the year
this woman may be swept
to her destiny
the heat
before she left she announced
I’m going to fall in love
the desert will hold me
she finds small hot stones
fills her pockets, her bag
the weight grounds her
keeps her from sky where
wind whirls the sun’s gifts
round her like a […]
I stop. You stop,
We all stop.
Now what?
Your turn.
The guy on the left
Was next.
But you wait.
Hesitate.
To see whether
I have busy business
And want to go first.
The last to stop,
The lady in the wagon
Proceeds
With a nod to us all.
I nod. You nod.
We all nod.
Then go on
With our lives,
Each out of turn.
~ Helen Gamble
Helen Gamble is a […]
For Imad Buali
Born in the Middle East, but having lived most of
his life in the West, he tells me that he’s decided –
inserting a DVD of his last trip to Saudi Arabia –
to move back there for good. The screen warms
with his brother playing the lute on a sofa, wearing
a pair of jeans.
He’s tired of […]
