Samiya Bashir Splitting the Rock

Poem of the Week:    Samiya Bashir                         Manistee Lights Brother I don't either understand this skipscrapple world that is--these slick bubble cars zip feverish down paved rushes of notcorn of notbeets of notcabbage and the land and the land-- You should know, man, nothing grows down here anymore except walloped wishes and their gouged out oil cans. Where bloodroot might span our distance sit these bars land mined in the sand lit from the inside eye these cages they twist us they tornado us. No. I don't understand. Not those grates not the grackles circling overblind all perched so close to the beach there we could smell winter freeze. In spring did the wind bring the scent of smelt? Remember? Even strike years mother found smelt by the fingery bagful and fried them almost whole. It was almost enough.   -Samiya Bashir   Used by permission. Originally published in Taos Journal of Poetry and Art. Samiya Bashir's second book of poems, Gospel, was a finalist for both the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and along with her first collection, Where the Apple Falls, the Lambda Literary Award. Her poetry has most recently appeared inPoet Lore, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crab Orchard Review, Cura, The Rumpus, and Encyclopedia Vol. 2 F-K,and was recently honored by the Aquarius Press Legacy Award and two Hopwood Awards from the University of Michigan. An Ann Arbor, Michigan native and recent NEA Writer in-Residence at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts,Samiya teaches creative writing at Reed College. Please feel free to forward Split This Rock Poem of theWeek widely. We just ask you to include all of theinformation in this email, including this request. Thanks! If you are interested in reading past poems of the week, feel free to visit the blog archive.

Poem of the Week Open Call   Split This Rock began the Poem of the Week program in October 2009 as a way of publicizing the poets who were to be featured in the 2010 festival. We have since continued the series by featuring the work of participants of our festivals. We are pleased to open the call up to any poet writing in the socially engaged vein -- festival participant or not.    Visit our blog for specifics and submission guidelines.  We look forward to reading your work! Support Split This Rock  Please support Split This Rock, the national network of activist poets. Donations are fully tax-deductible.  Click here to donate. Or send a check payable to "Split This Rock" to: Split This Rock, 1112 16th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036. Many thanks! Contact info@splitthisrock.org for more details or to become a sponsor.

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