{"id":3286,"date":"2022-02-18T13:21:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T21:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2024-12-11T12:07:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T20:07:57","slug":"cairene-sloth-song-by-khaled-mattawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/cairene-sloth-song-by-khaled-mattawa\/","title":{"rendered":"Cairene Sloth Song by Khaled Mattawa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"issue33\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 33<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Cairene Sloth Song by Khaled Mattawa<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By the time basil grew on my shoulders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had become a sloth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening to the gold beaked-angel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fight it out with the cuckoo bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooding nights followed translucent afternoons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive my pigeons, and the tree climbers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who never stop wailing about the liquid age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else is there but to live<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nightmares of eminent seers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say unto you my people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a time assailed by a traveler,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rocked to sleep by the pulse of his thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The princess waited for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king died on his ox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hands spin a blue dres for you, Lucinda,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A thread pulled from frostbitten gardens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And calcified dunes. I follow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiers and evening bells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel the absent fear return<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bearing an address inscribed on the corner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the eye, chicken hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will always remain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An October swindled from the lower notes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the flute, from clay drippings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And ears of corn. I’m writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The silent diary of a lantern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fueled by a plum. Here are the hands<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of a peasant singing the protocols<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of basement rats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take to the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tend to my punctured fur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damned arrows of stimuli!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I crossbreed the vernacular<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With howling wolves. Then<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dying stumps bring about<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A change of wind. Flocks of eunuchs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Begin picking cotton. I hide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the trench of the button hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the box there are broken<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urinals and vials of perfume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pocket is full of rapture and excess.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":1185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3286"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37581,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions\/37581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}