Jamilah Ali
My (Bleep) Like a Night-Blooming Cereus
flowered last year for its single night, a powerful
luscious blossom which takes the patience
of a saint, to water, to wait, to tame the
octopussian alien creature with arms of green rebellious curls
succulent platitudes grown asunder
staking the window a communication grid
until
one night in July the extraterrestrial blossom
phones home to the star ship in orbit to
rendezvous, takes off
my plant teeming with beams, the petals pearling
whirling white kaleidoscope with a thick hairy stalk
this is a prolific southern tropical plant
whose blossom looks and acts
like a bride dressed with endorphins
for a single kiss one night per year
a cause for fleeting joy
nostalgic and hungry
for approval
Self-Indulgence
Let me pose a question. If you, by chance
rode the cross-town train to the downtown station and,
due to over-crowding, found yourself
sitting next to yourself.
That is, you and another you are both sitting,
that is squished together on the same seat staring at
each other, and you smile
and so do you.
You ask the time and you reply you have no watch.
Of course it’s late. The subway car fills further.
A sharp bend in the tunnel throws its contents to one side.
You and the other you are pressed together.
Your breast rubs your breast. Your legs entangle.
Your face is in your hair. An awkward state of affairs
indeed. Glancing round self-consciously,
straightening your back, you’ve found yourself attractive
and it’s natural to react.
What do you do? What do you do?
Do you ask your self to dinner? Suggest a quiet corner bar?
Your heart is pounding in your chest. There isn’t time
for second thoughts. In fact, the train is at your stop.
Careful not to turn around, you exit down the crowded aisle.
Pushing through the narrow doors, your feet touch safely
to the ground. And you are you. And you’re alone.
The woman of your dreams rides on
smiling at the secret.
Jamilah Ali is a queer Progressive Muslim poet who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her partner and 2 cats. She believes poetry is our best non-violent tool to counter this pitiful fiasco. She is standing against the war in Iran, and the extinction of trans.