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“The Sailor cannot see the North—but
knows the Needle can—”
The books were all torn apart, sliced along the
spines
Light filled all the openings that she in her
silence renounced
Still: her handwriting on the papers remembered
us to her
The careful matching of the papers’ edges
was a road back
One night Muhummad was borne aloft by a winged
horse
Taken from the Near Mosque to the Far Mosque
Each book likens itself to lichen,
stitching softly to tree trunks, to rocks
what was given into the Prophet’s ears
that night:
A changing of directions—now all the scattered
tribes must pray:
Wonder well foundry, well sunborn, sundered and
sound here
Well you be found here, foundered and found
Kazim Ali is the author of a book of poetry, The
Far Mosque and a novel, Quinn’s Passage was
(blazeVox books). His poems and essays have appeared
widely in such journals as American Poetry Review,
Boston Review, and in Best American Poetry 2007.
He a founding editor of Nightboat Books and teaches
at Oberlin College and in the University of Southern
Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program. His second
book of poetry, The Fortieth Day is forthcoming
in 2008 from BOA Editions.
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