Poetry

Sharh on Sunan an-Nasa’i 736 by Reyzl Grace

—for E. R. Shaffer

When you ask me to sleep on the couch, / you wince. You know I know / you’ve banished others, who were good / enough for the sofa when you tired / of them, but not for the sanctuary / of your bed. You needn’t worry, / nujaym; I’ve already tasted / the kiss of your pillow while I’ve slept— / different from the kiss of your lips — / and I’m learning how your kisses can be / as different as the sun’s rays. / Who would compare the shine / on the backs of the camels coming / into the market with the perfect shaft, / placed as delicately / as a kiss, on the nose of a molly / curled, asleep, in the mosque? // On the nights I have passed in your bed / I have dreamed myself a cat— / the only animal that enters / the masjid. But when nights grow warm, / and you wish to sleep only / with the breeze, I learn how this couch / can be as different as two / kisses—as two rays / of the sun. Muezza (Muhammad’s ﷺ / beloved cat) was asleep / on his sleeve when the muezzin called, / so he pulled the stitch and prayed / with his arm bare. At isha, / I think of your naked arm / by the window, realize how close / he kept her, fall asleep / on a piece of a prophet’s robe. // At fajr, my ears prick. / You call me back to your bed, / explain that, sometimes, when you need / your space, you are like a cat. / I smile, remembering how gently / I drew my arm from beneath / your tired head, how deeply / green the couch was in the dark. / When the sun comes through the window, / I don’t know which of us is purring / harder, only how sacred / the place is where we lie, / how unlike any other / kiss is our coming together, / how freely you— like any cat— / might come and go without breaking / the rhythm of our daily prayers.

Reyzl Grace is a poet, translator, and fictionist with work nominated for the Pushcart Prize, listed as a finalist for the Jewish Women’s Poetry Prize and Best Literary Translations, and featured in Room, Rust & Moth, the Times of Israel, and elsewhere. Originally from Cascadia, she now lives in Minneapolis, dividing her time between working as a public librarian, editing poetry for Psaltery & Lyre, and distracting her girlfriend from writing a novel. You can find more of her at reyzlgrace.com and on Twitter/Bluesky @reyzlgrace.

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