I Know Why the Caged Muadhin Sings

By Saghirah Shahid

Because she could not see

where the parts of her body ended

 

on this road map her body is the city,

her voice the minaret and she is falling

in love with this tale of a former slave,

 

his voice wafting upwards

beyond roof tops like an unassuming scent.

 

How crafty, that aroma

to linger through generations

in plain sight but unseen.

 

Sagirah Shahid is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based writer. She is a 2015-2016 winner of the Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series Award in poetry, Sagirah’s work has been published or is forthcoming in: The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Mizna, The Fem, Bluestem, For Harriet, Black Fox, Alyss, Paper Darts, Switchback, and Qu Literary Journal.