Iman

Come be spun in the nightly vortex
where I am Sarai’s child some times
And some times Hagar’s
My mothers—
their golden dust
rises between us
when Jerusalem’s trees morph into green tanks

Your loquacious mouth
shapes missiles with my name on them
And of both my mothers
Come kiss each missile on the forehead
before you strike this house
Poems that were doors
will forever close and split
into ancient pebbles
Come like rain falling on the tanks

Your sleeves dry and mighty
with no tears to wipe
Come turn in my grave
where every flower ticks like a bomb

Shadab Zeest Hashmi will feature at Poetry & Art at SDAI on Sept. 21. Click for more info.

Shadab Zeest Hashmi, author of Kohl and Chalk and Baker of Tarifa, is the recipient of the San Diego Book Award, the Nazim Hikmet Prize, and multiple Pushcart nominations. Her work has been translated into Spanish and Urdu, and has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Mudlark, The Cortland Review, Poetry International, Vallum, POEM, The Adirondack Review, Spillway, Atlanta Review, Journal of Postcolonial Writings, Wasafiri, Rhino, Nimrod, Drunken Boat, Asymptote and other journals worldwide. She has taught in the MFA program at San Diego State University as a writer-in-residence and has presented in Turkey, Spain, Pakistan, Mexico and the UK. Ghazal Cosmopolitan is her latest book.