TRISHA F. HARPER
for Lisa Majaj and Naomi Shihab Nye
Window drapes in her death room
Heavy yellowed lace, thicker
than a shield, than the bayou's heat
swamped at her
porch steps
I am pinched
in patent leather, knees locked
under a velvet green dress
collared by lace. I breathe
slow-rot odor of the dying
My own mother grips my shoulder
steers me at the pillow. My panic
grows hysterically
silently, breathes my great-grandmother's
last oxygen
One of her daughters
fluffs the pillow, knots
a noose of Arabic
under my lace
straightens the bedclothes
I think in pieces
She smells like she's 400
When she's dead no one will call us
-18-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Food for Our Grandmothers:Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists.
Contributors: Joanna Kadi - Editor.
Publisher: South End Press.
Place of publication: Boston.
Publication year: 1994.
Page number: 18.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
One moment ...
- Georgia
- Arial
- Times New Roman
- Verdana
- Courier/monospaced
Reset