M.L. Tabakow
Off The GulfLost Dilmun’s bright page swims up, letters
unfurl and writhe. Just silver flashes, a black
curl, diving deep and too quick to catch. I reach
down anyway, miss one, snag other. I’ve
never seen the like—sinewy like “j’s”—
whipping their sharp tails.
Just below, a slashing “s” curve, right
to left. I scoop it up, too, feel
weighted suppleness, the penetration
of its stony gaze.I shiver and throw them all back.
And now?
What could I be thinking—to fish off
this land of two waters where
the sea meets that other sea, sweet-watered,
many-layered, obscure.
I pause, horizontal across the boards, plunge
both hands in, drink deep, swallow
hard, dive and sink to my
own level, net cast wide.
Arabian Gulf Springs
I watch water roil, swirling sediment around a spring
offshore in briny shallows, mingling the useless
flavor of absence, clear, purely
extravagant, with so much murky blue,
washing what’s wanted ashore.
The boat’s skipper points toward white caps
west, the slow rise of Saudi’s shimmering coast.
He’ll show us more: the miracle of the sacred sea
under this one. All that water that might
grow palms, swell new dates, scattering
small fish at its bubbling mouth.To my “why,” he widens his eyes.
Allah akbar!
Bio:
M.L. Tabakow is an assistant professor at the University of Bahrain. Recent publications include poems in the South American Explorer, Matrix (Montreal), and Mizna: a Forum for Arab American Arts.