then take shelter
the quiet latitude of supplication
obsidian as refractors
childhood like a hushed eddy
objections rise from the space we make
boulders matter at the earth’s surface
the friction abets the tectonic slippage
objection’s eddy or the space we make as refractors
supplication by any other name felsic lava extruded or obsidian
take umbrage from the falling
chamber
take stock of the rift then claim it
the eddy does its little dervish
take in all its conditions
all of childhood’s revenants
phrasal movements
advance the language
keeps all phrasing just below the
surface
felsic lava extruded or obsidian
forms a glass-ringed covenant
then objections rise from the space we make
black viscosity acts as covenant
pillbox another virtue place all objects in my hand
I have carried with me the long rope
clawed and cleaved to reach the
brittle rock
claimed that I did my best
to circumvent the sharpest edges
obsidian as refractors like the ancients let the glass act as mirrors
saw my own trailing hem then gathered it
and brought the rough edges toward the
tainted mirrors
all
the
ways
looking begets sight
close our eyes and still we
see
sightline as wayward movement
desire line as the thin veil cloaks me
childhood like an eddy
objections rise from
the space we make
all the chambers
in our peripheries
let me act as a guided arrowhead
such precision despite the distance
how I’d attune myself to the wind
how I’d adjust to slight my gilded target
grazing country before I’d claim it
the land existed in its own merit
its credence wasn’t in us naming it
take shelter from the falling
temperatures
take stock of the permanent rift then claim it
the eddy does its little dervish
take in all its conditions
all the ways want reconfigures me
makes apparent the sieve of me
lays bare the drift again
how want becomes the forever burden
or otherwise its gentle forward movement
often there is the question of need
as in how does any animal grow to fill its own vacuous need
its tender claws clean cut predator or prey
all hind and hinderance
all puritan and pounce
veil and pin prick
all
the
ways
looking begets my
shallow logic
my obsidian estruscan thoughts
power in the peninsula
hill-strewn villages
colliding at the stone walls
and
little slit into the unknown
mother tongue as a bifurcation
good word as the staid
object
objections rise from
the space we make
echo exhibit
resistance resistance will meet us
________________________________________________________
V O I C E S:
e c h o: choral residue into an empty space
r e s i s t a n c e: empty space abuts more empty space
e c h o & r e s i s t a n c e: reflection in double and pushing past the double
_________________________________________________________
e c h o: I cannot say
r e s i s t a n c e: I cannot say
e c h o: what kind of echo
r e s i s t a n c e: what kind of echo
e c h o: will find me
r e s i s t a n c e: will find me
e c h o: will keep me
r e s i s t a n c e: will keep me
e c h o & r e s i s t a n c e:
will help me breathe
will help me breathe
this portion
this portion
tonight
e c h o: I cannot say
r e s i s t a n c e: I cannot say
e c h o: what kind of echo
r e s i s t a n c e: what kind of echo
e c h o: will match this
r e s i s t a n c e: will match this
e c h o: capacious
r e s i s t a n c e: capacious
r e s i s t a n c e: sure distance
e c h o & r e s i s t a n c e: long distance
tonight
e c h o: I will not
r e s i s t a n c e: I will not
e c h o:
neatness
say
neatness
e c h o: what reasons
r e s i s t a n c e: what reason
e c h o: the echo
r e s i s t a n c e: the echo
e c h o: this evening
r e s i s t a n c e: this evening
e c h o: will meet us
r e s i s t a n c e: will meet us
e c h o & r e s i s t a n c e:
tonight
tonight
e c h o: the ocean
r e s i s t a n c e: or ocean
e c h o: this evening
r e s i s t a n c e: this evening
e c h o & r e s i s t a n c e: tonight
Asiya Wadud is the author of Crosslight for Youngbird (Nightboat Books, 2018) day pulls down the sky . . . a filament in gold leaf, written collaboratively with Okwui Okpokwasili (Belladonna/ Danspace, 2019), Syncope (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2019) and the forthcoming No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body. A member of the Belladonna Collaborative, her work has been supported by the Foundation Jan Michalski, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Danspace Project, Dickinson House, Mount Tremper Arts, and the New York Public Library, among others. Asiya is a 2019-2020 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist-in-Residence and also currently a writer-in-residence at Danspace Project. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.