I am tasting
again in my mother tongue
every greeting now is
pricking itself back
into place
each swelling,
a memory.
I want to tell our house
cat about communication,
my theory is that it’s all vibration
and indeed we do understand
each other in spite of our
differences.
I am in a field of time
listening to Liv.e
a hymnal of negatives,
turning points, rubies
and rhinestones, reminded of need,
verses and verses of need
and its declarations
after 21.
I am learning there are
many things we are afraid
to ask about like
why things happen to us,
why things change
so we find ourselves
in search for freedom,
rent our hearts to love,
ask the last light for
a Lutheran prophecy
but still.
Mariam Hassan is a poet, writer, filmmaker and journalism student whose work has been published in several literary magazines and anthologies. Her writing explores themes of identity, love and self-discovery formed under formulaic and intimate writing styles. She was raised in Pretoria, South Africa but now resides in Tanzania, her country of birth.
