Out of Many, One
What worlds slipped underneath the undertow
kneading microcosms in the sands?
Find water-lice and camouflaged crustaceans
and bits of shell from conch and Om Khulool,
the tiny mollusks you would swallow raw,
your popcorn of the sea, one of the reasons
I've stood weathering your precarious storms.
Malish—never mind, soft dawnings bloom,
your head exuding its peculiar musk
as if your very thoughts could break a sweat,
words humming through like wasps or gypsy moths
alighting on the bark of mastic trees.
And we, lost supplicants, awakened, hear
the sea performing its percussive wake,
a symphony that rises up like steam.
We are its flotsam, jetsam, driftwood, kelp,
of earth and ocean, body, soul, and moon,
more empty space than anything at all,
a sounding bell to hear what can't be said,
a thundering word that fills this floating dream
of gathered minutes, wings and scales and slime.
Siham Karami’s poetry and critical work has been published in such places as The Comstock Review, Able Muse, Tupelo Quarterly, Measure, The Rumpus, Mezzo Cammin, Think, Naugatuck River Review (as a contest semifinalist), and Orchards Poetry as a featured poet, among other venues and anthologies. Nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net twice, she blogs at sihamkarami.wordpress.com.