cobalt mirror image 3

Asiya Wadud

I wanted to hear all manner of bow meets thrill

glass curl and my hand, a magnet

the bell

the timber

the green tonic

silent gold shadows or

mourn us

great green ghosts fill up the corner then move in

green ghosts fill up the

interior and keep moving in then

the space holds my hand, held me then

thin—or the mirage upon mylar—sliver of continuous momentum

all my life I have had just one

body

it thrills me to watch my life through one

dark lens, then

thrills me to become the carrier wind then hold it

black space cumbersome against the bow’s long hum and diction

black asphalt against again

black heat or green ghosts begin the journey then

the cement blocks are still where they are

they have not moved since

we took great honor in placing them by the marigold

marked the acute urgent noon with a hum

then shadow

Illustration by Joey Gonnella

Asiya Wadud is the author of No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body, among other titles. Her work has been supported by the Fondation Jan Michalski and the New York Public Library, among other institutions. She lives in New York City and teaches poetry at Saint Ann’s School and Columbia University.
Originally published:
March 27, 2023

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