the language of refuge
January 18, 2010
words close
like doors
into rooms their
septums
of white skin
and silence
poems written
hidden behind leather
leaves bound
in gold thread
high on laddered shelves
cocooning syllables
a language of refuge
each new-soldered
word fighting
the others
for audience
whose history
do these letters
recall?
on whose grave
does the tongue
of a speaker
step?
shelter us
from outside view,
this is what beautiful words
do
the key to a locked tower
is a word
enclosed
spaces in
which we act
free
if i learn your dialect
will you include
me?
© 2010 tahminah zaman
