JUKE
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JOINT
Ek Din, Seduisante
ideology: the imaginary relationship we have to the real conditions of our existence.
-Maria Koundoura
disjuncture & difference;
oof, love.
the way I love
the loves of my life
love love love
such a weak word
for such a strong emotion—
the neighborhood
the friends
the nearby, the near, the neatly packed
place
place, place, place
prof says place is an inhabited space.
the vastness of the sprawl,
how to cut into it?
urban landscape, repetitive space
social immediacy in between
the dream to escape
has expired
french riviera too kind
red jasper in palm
neonatal kittens in incubator
this time there is no critique
no complaint
just cradle
and singsong, voice hoarse from crying
speak softly please
deliver me
by water please
my soul fragmented in the ocean
cataclysmic.
a carnage
flowering in the heart
we expected our accomplishments to heal us
but they never did
instead, I think extensively
of reappearances, real apologies,
and unlearned racisme,
with the tight, hollow ‘r’ in french,
and don’t forget
regret, regret, always my regret.
my eyes burn so I close them for an entire year.
Intizar
hold me
forgive me
let the water of wudu heal me
I dream bathtub
like sliver of ocean
they say sensitive people get like this
light excitement
as we taper off
into new versions of self
we are half truth, half trickery
& nothing without rituals:
learned duas and surahs
to ward off jinn instead of men.
my regret is that I misjudged you.
when you cried,
hold me I hate your absence!
I stretched my arms
around Marseilles,
but city
never found solace in my arms.
Rukhsar Palla is a Muslimah wandering, sometimes hidden behind sheesha smoke. She received her M.F.A from Emerson College and is currently working on a collection of poems titled, Muslimah Wandering. Her poems have been published in Pank, The Cape Rock, Straight Forward Poetry, and other literary journals. In her spare time, she can be found sleeping under her rose tapestry. She's online at www.queenrukhs.com & on IG @rukhsarpalla