A Poem By Shabnam Piryaei

by Mark Bibbins, Editor

the river was stunned the children did not know her name

we are destructive and thirsty and blooming.
we are thirsty and guided and resilient.
we are blooming and macheted and destructible.
we are gazing at a stained rubberband in the snow we are on our hands
and knees barking at the dogs we are spanked with wet hands we are
mowing the lawn in the sunlight we are yelling at our brother
who is a fence who will die who was never born.
we are running from the fire we are dwelling in the ashes.
we are fishing filled magically with flaws we are licking the paint
from the car door imploring the lock to rise.
we are steam and cake and dancing ferociously on the carpet.
we are watching the life drain from a bee on the sidewalk.
we are rippling though we ate one thousand gray pills we are flashes
of light we are blood diagrams in the bathroom sink.

Shabnam Piryaei is the author of the books Ode to Fragile (Plain View Press, 2010), Forward (MUSEUM Books, 2014), and Nothing Is Wasted (forthcoming).