Monday, October 17, 2022

Fanny Howe



Third Word from the East

In my sleep Mohammed spoke 

and I woke up 
struggling with equipment 
a helpless elder with fingers too weak 
to bend the bits around the neck. 

The Prophet expressed his relief 
that his words 
were of no interest 
to postmodern theorists. 
He was (he said) just another poet. 

Like the Uzbek films of Ali Khamraev 
his visions were spaced as if 
by breaks 
in God's mercy 
or from it, he didn't tell me which. 



One can see the shape but not the face 

Now it's time 
to recognize what was never intended 



Dreams alone are their own reward.

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