View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 31, 2018   from "Cue"   Siwar Masannat

sparrows=             before we became we flyfollowed / our homelands puzzle clouds we / traced chamomile in      bags / door to door / steeped in mud of our / remaining trickle of river / though small we      sipped / they simply toured / sand & soil & steep concrete & zinco they sold / our air to bases      down / (t)here & over there to east before that / & ever as ever they souled / men up there in      miniature suits / crushed flesh bones & / or capillaries / down there (in kitchens & streets &      silos) & we / became as we heard whispers of that / bile (t)here & acid (t)here / discovered      (a)gain our faces low / in their potential of what we applied / to our tender featherskin by      walking out / doors & a bridge wavering / under the weight of bodies & we (be)came /      hydrogenated as ever / we cried & laughed & shouted & we continued / & then we became      once again / & saw as (wo)men held close to children / perhaps just then could it be that / a      spectacle stunt / seamless / into the cries of other birds & it was machine framed & it became /      & we scattered / & then it was (un)done it was / & we continued to as we flyfollowed / to      where they didn't fool any / one back to center before they caught up / with us as if anything      was (un)done & / they tried to flyfollow the sky / as if it knew by heart eye / lashes mustaches      & fuzz & small prickly / nose hairs / if we = sparrows perhaps here they / were deluded thinking      anything was just / or that / or merely for them / which is ours as we cracked seeds between /      our beaks & we slept & we leapt & kept kneading / a little dough though            Copyright © 2018 Siwar Masannat. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem is part of a manuscript-in-progress in which humans, plants, animals, and spirits encounter each other in or across several places and times. As I was writing this poem, I had angles of vision, positionality, relationality, coincidence, and movement on my mind. I was feeling my way around the difficulties and reverberations of metaphor." —Siwar Masannat   Siwar Masannat is the author of 50 Water Dreams (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2015) and is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She splits her time between Amman, Jordan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Poetry by Masannat   50 Water Dreams (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2015) "Dear Lonely Animal," by Oni Buchanan "René Descartes and the Clockwork Girl" by Kathryn Nuernberger "Reading to My Father" by Jorie Graham December Guest Editor: Carmen Giménez Smith   Thanks to Carmen Giménez Smith, author of Cruel Futures (City Lights Publishers, 2018), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read more about Giménez Smith and our guest editors for the year. 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