As They Do by Laala Kashef Alghata
She hides behind the shattered fragments
of that golden lily
eating the pollen to survive,
licking her fingertips.
They left her (as they do)
perched on the tip
of a tree-branch
reaching for the ground
instead of the sky
hunting for the feeling
of something solid
underneath her feet
instead of reaching high
and realizing dreams.
She curls around herself
(she is her own parenthesis)
enveloped in the emptiness
and a shattered lily blanket
Laala Kashef Alghata is a twice-published poet and novelist. Her poetry and prose collection, Behind the Mask: A Folded Heart is avaliable on Amazon.co.uk. Her poetry is currently the focus of an exhibit in Clemson Arts Centre, SC. She has been featured widely online; she is a poet-in-residence in Soul to Soul, ArgoBoat and the Peregrine Muse and appears in Argotist Online, Pens on Fire and The Blotter. She is the founder and editor of online poetry magazine, Write Me a Metaphor. http://afoldedheart.blogspot.com/
