I now understand the things I’ve always known:
that glass may burst into shards of scathing sobs,
but boulders and fortresses show how unbreakable land is
where pillars of Adonis, Jupiter, and Azizos stand,
stiffening patiently, like unread books on a shelf.
We are matchboxes, charged
with decades’ worth of unignited wishes.
Like the rubble of crystal tears left in the sun,
we burn to summon those wings
among exhaling embers
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 24, Issue 6.
Roula-Maria Dib is the director of the London Arts-Based Research Centre, founding editor of literary and arts journal, Indelible, and creative producer of literary event series, Indelible Evenings, as well as Psychreative. She is a holder of the UK Global Talent Visa as an award-winning literary scholar, poet, educator and editor; her debut poetry collection Simply Being was published by Chiron in 2021, and she is currently working on her second collection. Her book, Jungian Metaphor in Modernist Literature (Routledge, 2020) was shortlisted as a finalist for the IAJS book awards.
See all items about Roula-Maria Dib
