Nomenclatures of Invisibility by Mahtem Shiferraw

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 16, 2017   Nomenclatures of Invisibility   Mahtem Shiferraw

My ancestors are made with water— blue on the sides, and green down the spine;   when we travel, we lose brothers at sea and do not stop to grieve.   Our mothers burn with a fire that does not let them be;   they whisper our names nomenclatures of invisibility honey-dewed faces, eyes sewn shut, how to tell them the sorrow that splits us in half the longing for a land not our own the constant moving and shifting of things, within, without—   which words describe the clenching in our stomachs the fear lodged deeply into our bones churning us from within,   and the loss that follows us everywhere: behind mountains, past oceans, into the heads of trees, how to swallow a tongue that speaks with too many accents—   when white faces sprout we are told to set ourselves ablaze and this smell of smoke we know— water or fire, or both,   because we have drowned many at a time and left our bodies burning, or swollen, or bleeding and purple—this kind of language we know, naming new things into our invisibility and this, we too, call home.            Copyright © 2017 Mahtem Shiferraw. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem attempts to capture in brief moments the depth of our invisibilities as we move and shift from one place to another. Our sense of place is not only lost, but constantly questioned, probed—and this kind of incessant interrogation lets us to believe there is no sense of dignity in our places of origin, in our names. And even though what the world is doing to us is not new, it breaks us every time." —Mahtem Shiferraw   Mahtem Shiferraw is the author of Fuchsia (University of Nebraska Press, 2016). She lives in Los Angeles. Poetry by Shiferraw   Fuschia (University of Nebraska Press, 2016) "What I Am" by Terrance Hayes "the earth is a living thing" by Lucille Clifton "Self-Portrait as Vincent Van Gogh in the Asylum at Arles" by Roger Reeves Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038