Farnoosh Fathi

Aubade

Like a totem of birds, every last one
understood
distinct, built with nearly identical
hands;

Hair blew into my mouth when I laughed:
an angle where briefly the gold
mimesis of inedible worms
was hid.

A rifle of Aristophanes,
a butt of Rilke,
the mane of Rintrah,
all kept under the drum pillow,
the bluff grass
while dribbling clouds
roll...

"This mirror deprives the face
of love, of one’s own"—

The earliness of the bird
that told me, in my red-faced
dynamism, a categorical
uprising
sun…

New mobilities, suit up in armor of birds—
stand and test:

"The shield of the heart is the heart"—

Beak—open and close,
open and close,
I count two points of an ungorgeable star—


Farnoosh Fathi is from California and currently lives and works in Carmel Valley. Her poems, translations, interviews and collaborations can be found through the web.