Published in The Daily Star Eid Special, August 2012.

 

It was better when she was without
than what he’d given her now
This constant ache in her warmth
pulling towards his. When she goes
around the room shimmying to
the distant heat of song, when
she takes their laughter by the
hair and shakes it silly, when
she pours in rain and lights the
sun from her tongue, her teeth,
her unclenched jaws, is when he
craves her, sucks the well of her
dry. Her summer storms bother
him more than the spring eruptions
of budding leaves. But hey, that’s okay:

Green can be frightening. Black always is.