Pulling out of Union Square station, the subway
sounds the first three notes of There's a place for us,
somewhere a place for us. A woman sits on me, shoves
her dim planet-face at mine and blames me
for not moving. My face half numb --
post-root canal. I want to incinerate her
with a blast from Shiva's third eye. But she
is Shiva, too. Give me back the luxury of blame.
-Marie-Elizabeth Mali, from Steady, My Gaze
Used by permission
Marie-Elizabeth Mali is the author of Steady, My Gaze (Tebot Bach, 2011). She is a co-curator of louderARTS: the Reading Series and Page Meets Stage, both in New York City. Her work has appeared in Calyx, Poet Lore, and RATTLE, among others. You can visit her website at: www.memali.com
Mali won second place in Split This Rock's 2010 Poetry Contest and read the winning poem, "Oceanside, CA," onstage on the 2010 festival's final night. Read the winning poem here.
Also! Mali will be featured alongside Reginald Dwayne Betts at the next Sunday Kind of Love on March 20th. Stay tuned for details!
Please feel free to forward Split This Rock Poem of the Week widely. We just ask you to include all of the information in this post, including this request. Thanks!
Split This Rock
www.splitthisrock.org
info@splitthisrock.org
202-787-5210
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