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8/24/39
Sadiq Bey
at this point (and
that's all there is), this rare
glass of rum sweats and churns slowly ( cuban
rum from
the fields at sagua la grande?). no, at least...a
glass of rum.
we struggle here on this boat of
recompense. what a subject for the cinema.
stranded in
motion. exile fitted together with a student's ardent
desire
for the scent of home. each word, each letter
filled to capacity with yearning,
with desire's
explanation, with cold winter's air, with opera's
pigment.
each phoneme decorated as a candle in the
hand of every single child in the
world, every single
mother.
jaqueline managed to save herself some candles...the
captain offered the few he had for his cabin: we
follow the logic of the aria.
i regret every wrong
turn, every snared butterfly, here on this ocean of
desire:
a clean pillow slip.
the fragrance of french soap.
a nail
clip.
fresh lettuce. even the
drums of "the people of the nations"
at sagua la grande.
life requires the requiem of dreams, a non-event at my
gentle hand, my brush of stars. my blackness.
© Sadiq Bey
Sadiq Bey is a poet and essayist who lives and works in New York City. He has just completed and performed his re-reading of Othello for the 50th anniversary
of the Venice Biennale (Italy) with composer Uri Caine. His work can be found
in many anthologies and recordings, including "Nublaxploitation" (Blue
Note) and "The Goldberg Variations: Bach" (Winter and Winter). He
is currently working on "The Diaries of Wifredo Lam", a performance
in collaboration with video artist Yvette Mattern (Berlin) to be work-shopped
at Oberlin College, spring 2004.
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