the sensitive use of

stelae and sediments
rough as chip seal
rolled flat and torn up
what are you going to gain

why is she crying

not bad saving alkali balls
from demolition — devotion
and diminution — that’s depraved
pontificate in your jodhpurs

wail in your pith helmet

there’s something trapped
and spasmodic in the smoke tree
now taut — now frozen in time
unnatural — gone dark

throat tight — send help

What I’m Reading:

Clouds of dust settle on the coughing
neighboring houses—
their noses swollen by the heat
of the scorched air.
A girl passes by, sees the bleeding door, opens it.
A corpse lies beneath.
The earth weeps.

— Mosab Abu Toha / “Door on the Road”