Gallery — Self-portrait

Self-portrait (اعطني اسم)
by Sarah Badr, 2008
72 x 45 cm matte canvas print

Purple Skies / Power Lines

lavender wind
swiftly through
the open window
as i try to summon
those dreams
once dreamt
and now long-gone

[purple skies
over power lines:
i no longer lie
alone dreaming]

now only thoughts,
pressing concerns
passing trap-doors
beyond the
twenty-two years
of a person/place
petrified in
a thing unknown

[purple skies
over power lines:
i no longer lie
alone]

i’m so far away,
so unbelievably far
that now and again
i escape from the
mezzotint haze of
forgotten albums,
a collection of
tainted memories

[purple skies
over power lines:
i no longer lie]

and the story goes
one day at a time
with neither plot
nor conclusion,
only the aftertaste
too sick to stomach
whilst defunct
in my distension

[purple skies
over power lines:
i am no longer

skin
over lie
no more]

– Sarah Badr

© 2008. S.H.Badr, All Rights Reserved.
Editor’s note: First posted 23.4.08.