Gabeba Baderoon Biography

Pa came to collect us from school
in his white Valiant, the stern drive home.
Pa sat at the head of the table,
...

To step into another language
direct the breath
swell the mouth with vowels
feel the jaw configure itself around the word
...

Pulling into the station, our trains pause
and I catch your eye across everything
that separates us. I wait to leave but, in a moment
of stillness, I hold your gaze.

Do you too feel that every journey
takes you in larger circles away from home.
For a moment, though soon we will move
in opposite directions, it feels
as though I have come to rest.

i
...

I used to live in a small room
with a narrow bed
and a television at my feet.
A mirror hung on the back of the door.
I lived in the order
of its smallness.

I lie here next to you
and feel the distance
from the walls.
If I held you closer
we would fit
onto a narrow bed.
...

I run down the airport corridors
willing time to be still,
and, impossibly, catch the flight.
I sleep all day and in the evening walk
to the twilight waiting by the lake,
my body a heavier part of the dusk.

The lake looks obsidian turned
to slate by sudden rain
droplets widen into momentary
silver mouths under the jetty
the glint of insects on the reeds scattered
like sequins on the thickening fall
solo violin of a gull call -
moments bearing no notation.
...