once upon a chapter
i was
rubbing your parched lips with sand
while date-trees shadowed your masochism.
you kept asking for water
with a raucous voice,
and camels ignored us.
you died in my arms then,
smearing my cheek with your last breath
and naming me Maya
and i sieved my sand over you
to hide your corpse from vultures.
the next mouldy morning
you grew through me
branching
into basic elements
you split me
seeking my water
ignoring the camels.
you planted a date
between my teeth
and closed my eyes
and taught me
that, which i already knew.
i died
winged by your breath then
and anointing you “unnamed”.
the date rooted in my mouth
and turned me into an oasis.
your oasis.
no camels – just water and date-trees.
and us.
undying.
© 2016, Liliana Negoi
from “The hidden well”
We are pleased to announce that The Bardo Group Beguines core team member, Liliana Negoi, was recently acknowledged for her outstanding poetry.
LILIANA NEGOI (Endless Journey and in Romanian curcubee în alb şi negru) is the author of three published volumes of poetry in English, which is not her mother tongue but one that she came to love especially because of writing: Sands and Shadows, Footsteps on the San – tanka collection and The Hidden Well. The last one can also be heard in audio version, read by the Lilliana herself on her SoundCloud site HERE.
Liliana is also the author of a novel, Solo-Chess, available for free reading HERE. Many of her creations, both poetry and prose, are published in various literary magazines.
