THOU
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THOU - Aisha Sasha John
THOU
THOU
Aisha Sasha John
BookThug · 2014
FIRST EDITION
copyright © 204 Aisha Sasha John
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The production of this book was made possible through the generous assistance of The Canada Council for the Arts and The Ontario Arts Council.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
John, Aisha Sasha, author
Thou / Aisha Sasha John.
Poems.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77166-073-0
I. Title.
PS8619.O444T46 2014 C811'.6 C2013-908728-1
PRINTED IN CANADA
About this book
Following the successful reception of her first book, The Shining Material, comes Aisha Sasha John’s THOU – a powerful collection of two long, narrative poems exploring the social space that exists between the self and others. Using the language that connects these two states of being, THOU investigates the idea of you
– what it is and what it means to say you,
the stories we make of our own multiple yous,
and by extension, the you
an author can make of her own book. Building on the emotionally charged language of John’s previous work, THOU will tantalize readers’ senses, and will provoke comparisons to such acclaimed poets as Anne Carson (especially Glass, Irony and God) and Alice Notley.
The Beloved
One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked.
A voice asked: ‘Who is there?’ He answered: ‘It is I.’
The voice said: ‘There is no room here for me and thee.’
The door was shut.
After a year of solitude and deprivation
this man returned to the door of the Beloved.
He knocked.
A voice from within asked: ‘Who is there?’
The man said: ‘It is Thou.’
The door was opened for him.
– Rumi
Contents
Physical.
The book of you
Physical.
I arrived here on Saturday.
And today it is Monday.
I don’t understand the skies.
They’re red –
Yanni I love them
but I do not
know.
All of the baby lambs. All of the cows. (No cows.)
I don’t want to be outside. I hate love.
And
swollen.
Today a jinn sat beside me at breakfast.
I get three wishes.
A jinn sat to my left at breakfast.
I composed three wishes
in a WordPad document
standing.
The third was about listening
to
my spirit, yours;
the universe, the animals therein,
the stars, events and wind;
to the sun, to waters and steam,
to the tightness at my right hip, my supple neck,
to the waves and the recordings,
to the call to prayer
above the walk from the resto,
to the sadnesses before me,
the inquietude before me, the weakness, the effort I see and the
industry I’ve met,
to the attempts to gather my attention and to
shun me
and to delight me.
A French woman living in Casablanca
a journalist with too much bronzer
asked if I was from the United States.
No,
I said.
A wave of weakness after I ate the salad.
In French I said to the head waiter