I Remember Long Ago
for Natasha Turnquest

careful how you touch her
what you awaken

without consent, these words
otherwise birds fly in

Nadine Gordimer
sends us birds across the waves
across Good Hope Bay

how far I’ve strayed
limbs about me, poem about her
shy, I seek to know, to do

without bodies, sexes, ages
who are we, what are we

in the next life, in the one before
what were we, what will we be

pigeons, possibly,
upon the neighbor’s roof, necking

nearby, nest of eggs,
in a coconut tree


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
4:04 a.m. 16/08/07