We Want Things We Say We Don’t
he carried the tomato plant around looking for her
even the snow geese are quiet
the world is a handful of dust
even as a young man, his true self was never below the surface
cardamom tea in a pint glass
absolute attention is prayer
the rush I get from sweeping floors
because you weren’t raised to look on the bright side, when you laugh you really mean it
my new hue is here to stay
regret like iodine moving through my veins
caterpillars indifferent to headlines
bruise-colored sunset
side dish of sheepish confession
how my cousin pronounces my name
actual buckets of cucumbers from the harvest
to be born a twin is to wonder what it feels like to be on one’s own
I come uncorked
secret handshake as mnemonic for a place you loved
bring your knee closer and we’ll see what the knee does
I ink my border onto the map of skin
Farnaz Fatemi is a founding member of The Hive Poetry Collective, which produces podcasts and poetry-related events in Santa Cruz, CA. Her book of poems, Sister Tongue, won the 2021 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize selected by Tracy K. Smith, and is forthcoming in August 2022 from Kent State University Press. Her poems and lyric essays have recently appeared in Catamaran Literary Reader, Crab Orchard Review, Grist Journal, SWWIM Daily, Tupelo Quarterly, and several anthologies, including Essential Voices: Poetry of Iran and its Diaspora and My Shadow Is My Skin.
