Overland literary journal

OVERLAND 198
autumn 2010
ISBN 978-0-9805346-5-8
published March 2010

A souqi

(commoner to poet)

As I listen to you
In a common peculiar mood
Something within wants to kill you
Hunt down gazelles galloping from your eyes
I say and I am wise
These are not days for gazelles
Or is it a dark mind?
Damp, dense
And what is poetry?
Trash
And a bit of rhyme
And the hidden symbols of a poem
Are nothing but mice traps
With cheap cheese,
Or is it a dense mind?
Damp, dark
How did I come to this my love?
Vile! Vile!
All forbidden!

Something within wants to kill you
And all gazelles galloping from your eyes

My love she of stinking feet
Dipped her toes into my waters
And all fish rose to the surface
Yet there is tenderness within
Had I died before I wrote poetry
And all this trash
How did I come to this my love?
Come!

Maysoon Elnigoumi lives in Sydney and writes poetry and articles on literature, music and arts, some of which have appeared in Sudanese newspapers.
© Maysoon Elnigoumi
Overland 198-autumn 2010, p. 102

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