Initiation, and: Beneath Her Words
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Initiation, and: Beneath Her Words*
INITIATION
Hours before dawnpools into living room windows,my mother is a procession
of mustard and pink resinpounded by marble pestlepoured onto hot coals.
The tiny altar of her body alightswith the flick of a blue flamefilling the house with her
inaudible prayers blanket every roomuntil there’s no use breathingin a home too small to holdher offering.
What sin requires so muchheat to expunge?Which prayers are so heavy?
My burnt offering is withhelduntil my husband sees his nightmarein a drawing on the door.
My daughter, born prematurely,our absence during deliverybegan as a dream.
No frankincense and myrrh,I search for sage,diffuse the smell of fresh firewoodin the corners of each room. [End Page 653]
BENEATH HER WORDS*
On a tiny scrollolder than parchment and ink— rests a lip tattoo. [End Page 654]
ZAKIA CARPENTER-HALL is a writer, facilitator, and personal coach based in the United Kingdom. She has been a Writer in Residence with The Poetry School and London Parks & Gardens Trust, and is currently pursuing the MFA in creative writing at Kingston University in London.
Footnotes
* after Niaomi Shihab Nye
