Untitled

A Poem by Alvah Goldbook

The fall of keys onto frozen porcelain
can make the mouth lose all function
cause the jaw to unhinge, the pupils to dilate
and render the song you whistled
all day absurd, poignant
and lonely

The virgin can stand without
but the sounds murmur nonstop
ineligibility can harm so many
the laughing stock a bird
swallowed by water
flipping its ferocious wings
in vain

Arabs under the sand, the Qur’an on the surface
Hashish smoke blossoming over the dunes
pine trees fruitful
Shari’a laws divine, and complete
punishable by the cutting of an arm,
a foot, by death, or punishment by
the killing someone they know you love
a father, a son, your pregnant wife—
‘a holy lesson’ they will tell him
‘thank Allah for receiving it’

The butcher hacks away at meat
and bones
the heifer swinging with momentum
swaying by a hook pinned between
two healthy and thick tendons
the butcher’s shoulder is weary
and he sits for a smoke
and watches the cow swing
back
and
forth
he names the cow out of pleasure
he names him Cleaver
and puts the cigarette butt out
in the middle of the blackened eye
then goes home, f***s his wife and
sleeps without the discomfort of a dream