"Sublimation" by Madina Tuhbatullina

Wheels fall off
suitcases
there I must rest
my shadow  abrasive and maladaptive
hair  knots

above clavicles   a contender
grows poppies and calls them
belongings
a new method of treasuring
my absence

The child I will spoil
on condition of being an open window
like poppy fields in the mountains
that hide clay soil.

             
Madina Tuhbatullina is a poet from Turkmenistan, whose work has been published or is forthcoming in Aster(ix), SRPR, Tar River Poetry and elsewhere. Her poetry collection Tender Knots was named a finalist for the Black Lawrence Press Immigrant Writing Series. Madina is a Creative Writing MFA candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a Managing Editor at Interim.