"Spool Strung Matter" by Eva Dominelli
Two poems by Noor Ibn Najam
abaya for Ramadan 2018
inextricable from the silk lake i stand embroidered all over
needlework up to my eyes bright
red threads purse lips along my collarbone
kisses are forbidden
in times of fasting gold threads unknot
a new map of my name as light reflects off my chest, ricochets
against the surface
of the water
& refracts green threads glint
against a dazzling night the way a beetle’s shell shimmers
& sings: ya abaya, drench me
like my own vibrant blood, your protective drape
matriarchal, your frayed edges tongueing & tangling
the looseweave cadence
of the water i stand in. you are old and torn,
unfit, i wear you
on holy days, days i’m tempted to breathe my grandmother’s laugh
instead of oxygen, her orange blossom perfume
instead of air — days i’m tasked with my duty to Allah
but sink instead into the wet depths
of lineage, how we scatter & are rethreaded
by tradition, how we fast to remember
we are close to something, how we bend our eyes
over the work, needles in hand
we stitch, stitch, stitch
needlework up to my eyes bright
red threads purse lips along my collarbone
kisses are forbidden
in times of fasting gold threads unknot
a new map of my name as light reflects off my chest, ricochets
against the surface
of the water
& refracts green threads glint
against a dazzling night the way a beetle’s shell shimmers
& sings: ya abaya, drench me
like my own vibrant blood, your protective drape
matriarchal, your frayed edges tongueing & tangling
the looseweave cadence
of the water i stand in. you are old and torn,
unfit, i wear you
on holy days, days i’m tempted to breathe my grandmother’s laugh
instead of oxygen, her orange blossom perfume
instead of air — days i’m tasked with my duty to Allah
but sink instead into the wet depths
of lineage, how we scatter & are rethreaded
by tradition, how we fast to remember
we are close to something, how we bend our eyes
over the work, needles in hand
we stitch, stitch, stitch
for giving a body
god didn’t make me
from the flesh of fruit god carved my face
into nutmeg. showed me my body
of cinnamon & cloves insistent
on the tongue my body of bark
& exterior whose lovers have to work for it
my skin that must be peeled back. once i offered it
tired metaphor for myself
pretty as a pair of closed lips. it blushed like an apple
ashamed of its green fell to barren soil
of a bed. someone asked me
what did you expect?
& i reached back for the idea of a kiss, tender departure
from the truth of things lips turned loose
their nectar thighs dressed themselves in syrup
gone rancid i called this a betrayal &
lord, i was not wrong i am your child
of rotting hips unburied
from my own decay mine is the body
un-easy praise the earned
ameen of a nameless taste praise this body
sweetless mine is the body
that offers no honey glory, it is worth.
from the flesh of fruit god carved my face
into nutmeg. showed me my body
of cinnamon & cloves insistent
on the tongue my body of bark
& exterior whose lovers have to work for it
my skin that must be peeled back. once i offered it
tired metaphor for myself
pretty as a pair of closed lips. it blushed like an apple
ashamed of its green fell to barren soil
of a bed. someone asked me
what did you expect?
& i reached back for the idea of a kiss, tender departure
from the truth of things lips turned loose
their nectar thighs dressed themselves in syrup
gone rancid i called this a betrayal &
lord, i was not wrong i am your child
of rotting hips unburied
from my own decay mine is the body
un-easy praise the earned
ameen of a nameless taste praise this body
sweetless mine is the body
that offers no honey glory, it is worth.
Noor Ibn Najam is a Callaloo, Watering Hole, and Pink Door fellow, and all their friends’ teita. Their work has been published with the Academy of American Poets, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, BOAAT, Winter Tangerine, and others. Their chapbook, Praise to Lesser Gods of Love, will be published as a part of the Glass 2018-19 Chapbook Series.
Eva Dominelli is a Vancouver artist and freelance Illustrator with a BFA in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her mysterious gouache and ink illustrations playfully investigate the relationship between the private and the public experience of the everyday. She is currently working on her upcoming artist’s book Between Being & Nothingness.
You can view more of her work at evadominelli.com, on facebook @evadominelliillustration or on instagram @eva.avenue.
You can view more of her work at evadominelli.com, on facebook @evadominelliillustration or on instagram @eva.avenue.
