see how the trees stretch upto the rooftop edge-
down below the train clip clops hollow notes
sleepwalk far wherever the wind
homes sweep backwards:
teen on a toilet seat and a porn screen
sewn up patches of station platforms
girls asleep in polka dot knickers
shadow-gust a mouthful of moan
or a gobbet of meat passed from knife to knife.
you press the molly on my tongue
still as a riverbed it shrinks to the size of a pinhead
then bam a bow in the rain
and i promise to run away with you some day where whims go
but for now uncuff your caution withhold the particulars
catch light on a desert tongue oxblood wine from cup to cup
pass me a dirty note under your breath
unskirt this night disregard this railing
until all is all and nothing but a dare under a star
now lean so the universe swallows us whole
like edible flowers
Mai Serhan
Mai Serhan is a writer, editor and translator. She holds a BA in English & Comparative Literature and MA in Arabic Literature from the American University in Cairo, as well as an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. She is the winner of the Narratively Memoir Prize forReturn is a Thing of Amber, and the Center for Book Arts Poetry Chapbook Award for her collection,CAIRO: the undelivered letters.
