Germination
A pit of apathy sprouts,
where once
indelible warmth pooled
like molasses.
Clawing into crevasses of memory,
I paint a disposition for you each day —
zinnias in the breeze, the river at sunset,
still life with mango peels,
but the heat pastilled in the past stays put.
Together,
we deface my careful compositions,
the zinnias vanish in a shock of frost,
our river is many sheets of ice, life remains still,
and so the seed grows.
Noorulain Noor is a member of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poetry has appeared in Spillway, Sugar Mule, Santa Clara Review, Muzzle, and other journals. Raised in Lahore, Pakistan, Noorulain now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her poetry explores themes of identity, multiculturalism, and the immigrant experience.
