Green, how I wanted you

At first, I liked the sound
of you in my hair
words found on trees
before your colour rained
and the wall bruised my back.
Your eyes were friends
until every skin I wore
was not enough.
Your hand sown
into every day.
Even July was angry.  
 
Title taken from the words of Federico Garcia Lorca, Romance Sonambulo
 

Julia Usman

published in New Contexts: 1 ed., Ian Gouge, 2021, Coverstory Books, ISBN 978-1-9162899-6-3

 
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Still Life

Grandmother’s jug poured cream
in slow tears.
On most days the jug sat
locked in a mahogany case
behind glass we were not
allowed to touch.
 
Her glazed face
fragile bone
we never kissed
for fear of the hairline crack
and the weeping
that would pour from it.
 

Julia Usman

published in Write on the Farm Anthology, Vol 2, Such a Place Exists, 2021, Stramongate Press

 
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Al Khor

In the spit of a city
my oil stained water
rises with the sun
over glass-lined skies
minarets and wind towers
washes the Gulf,
bears the weight
of slack-backed dhows
bellies full of black lemon
sana leaf, saffron
sailing the centuries
from sand into concrete
a snake shedding skin.
 
After dusk, I dream
with the Bedouin,
lap against the stars
named after their camels
flow alongside
the ebb and fall
follow myself back
to beginnings.
 
 
     ‘Al Khor’ is Arabic for The Creek

 

Julia Usman

published in anthology, Well, Dam! Poems for parching times, 2019, ed. Rebecca Bilkau,
Beautiful Dragons Press. ISBN 978-1-64467-697-4

 
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Child of Montmartre

you wear this city on your tongue
its fabric wraps your body
stretches the eighteenth arrondissement
hip and blowsy
inhabits the wholesale shops
with buyers from ASOS
exiles at home
 
chic stranger
dusting French off your textiles
you flirt with the garçon
he lights your cigarette
heads almost touching
when did you start to smoke
 
under the shift of November
the Eiffel Tower speaks of secrets
a bar in Bastille hides early snowfall
we run through the slush
slip       on the eggshells of each other’s shoes
find a backstreet cafe laced into a bodice of vines
sit      drink red wine
 
I know I must let you go
 

Julia Usman

in collection She Who Sings Is Not Always Happy, 2021, Coverstory Books, ISBN 978-1-8382321-3-9

 
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