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.