Two Days in a Row in November I Died Twice

Tarfia Faizullah

I plan to die for good in the state

of Texas. What state

of mind will I be in that Saturday?

Yes, it must be a weekend; Saturdays

are for shampoo, sunning, silk.

Yes, silk will be what I die in. Silk,

though I love cotton best, worn & soft

as a slew of sweetly shirtless days. Soft

as the sacred eyes of a stranger

who sees in another stranger a stranger

version of a story

many of us shoulder. Every story

has a sunrise, a sunset, death, a few storms.

Between you and me, I love a strong storm.

Tarfia Faizullah is the author of Registers of Illuminated Villages and Seam. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of North Texas.
Originally published:
December 6, 2023

Featured

The Shapes of Grief

Witnessing the unbearable
Christina Sharpe

Writing in Pictures

Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature
Chris Ware

Garth Greenwell

The novelist on writing about the body in crisis
Meghan O’Rourke

You Might Also Like

Alice Notley’s Disobedience

The shape-shifting voice that changed American poetry
Tausif Noor

Continuo

Geoffrey G. O'Brien


Subscribe

New perspectives, enduring writing. Join a conversation 200 years in the making. Subscribe to our print journal and receive four beautiful issues per year.
Subscribe