Flower Gate
Edged in petals I go into the ocean
At every appointed prayer hour
And the city on the rocky slope
Makes its vow to the sea
Seed pods scatter in silver dusk light
Green cypress spires to sky
My disobedient body pierces the I
Music drifting landward hand in hand
I chew my way through the arbor of forgetting
Taking a shot at sharing your fierce fate
I am not you after all
Not a garden nor a gate
Just a scruffy hustler trying to hop the fence
Willing to spend himself to nothing
Sea of Gallilee
Everyone left me to wonder
I watched the lake unfold
Sails covering its surface
The gate to the river of baptism closed early
So instead I sat on the rock used as an alter
At the fisherman’s church
You don’t want me to be lonely
I live every day wanting to know
Will this place turn out to be home
Kazim Ali's most recent book of poetry is SKY WARD. Forthcoming in the US in 2015 is a book of essays entitled RESIDENT ALIEN: ON BORDER CROSSING AND THE UNDOCUMENTED DIVINE and in India ALL ONE'S BLUE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS.