By Ali Znaidi

When rain falls in the garden of desire, one
rose radiates and the other rusts. A tadpole,
all those details, a life in the making, while
I record each drop on parchments, {in fact
on the leaves}. There is blood in the abyss
of the thermal springs. There are sighs that
follow in succession; a parade, a sign of a
myth in the making. The thermal springs
can spew the clots back out. Then roses of
desire blossom one by one, {Ennui}. They
try to escape the idolatrous icons. They want
to rub themselves against the curvatures of
life. They want to steal poetry from Sappho
w/ out being accused of plagiarism. Oh rain,
don’t wound roses again!

* * *

Ali Znaidi (b.1977) lives in Redeyef, Tunisia. He is the author of several chapbooks, including Experimental Ruminations (Fowlpox Press, 2012), Moon’s Cloth Embroidered with Poems (Origami Poems Project, 2012), Bye, Donna Summer! (Fowlpox Press, 2014), and Taste of the Edge (Kind of a Hurricane Press, 2014).