May 2020
Maryam El-Shall
elshalmh@gmail.com
Bio Note:  I live and work in Florida and, when I can, I write. I'm interested in borders and limits of all kinds--spacial and political, for sure, but also of knowledge, language and relationships, even of the self. I use poetry to test established limits, to explore new possibilities of what we can know, say and be.

Secrets

I walk into rooms and forget why I get lost
in parking lots and small towns
I’m never happy.
 
I hear phantom sirens and imagine they’re coming for me
because
I’m a criminal
there’s no one else.
 
	Oh--
	I already know the questions they’ll ask--
		“Are you lost ma’am are you supposed to be here are you okay 
		do you have ID are you armed are you hurt are you going to hurt 
		me have you hurt anyone will you hurt yourself?”
	Questions between breaths
	Accusing and asking and defending and protecting us
	me
	all of us from each other
	and ourselves and I’ll say yes to all of it.
 
“Yes,” I answer.
 
I watch strangers pass by the sky 
spins clouds next to me and I wonder  
“What is it like to be you?”
 
I don’t know because
you’ll never tell
secrets.
©2020 Maryam El-Shall
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