A Night in Saudi Arabia
Black asphalt cracked
and broken beneath
me,
I walk through nameless
streets, narrow and winding,
past shops selling scarves,
spices, skins.
A man offers shoes, gold, perfumes
sprayed on paper and handed out,
gestures quiet, unknown until
the paper is in my hand,
the strip marked
with fingerprints,
his and mine.
I let go
and it falls
to the ground where
there are many more,
cast down by girls, women
like me.
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Author's Note
I wrote this poem after living in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
"A Night in Saudi Arabia" was originally published in Salome Magazine.
Other stories by Tawnysha Greene
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Great form - and phrasings:
"A man offers shoes, gold, perfumes
sprayed on paper and handed out,
gestures quiet, unknown until
the paper is in my hand"
I especially like the stanza leap that anchors this piece. I like the leaps in the colosing stanzas as well. Good work, Tawnysha.
Yes, agree with Sam. The leaps are luscious.
Nice. Like the collection of imagery in this, the rhythm of words. Particularly liked this set of lines:
“I walk through nameless
streets, narrow and winding,
past shops selling scarves,
spices, skins.”
The ending image is perfect.
This took me there, to those narrow and winding streets, and I felt something that wasn't mine to feel. Very good.
i love the variation in stanzas, the way it takes us by force