snow melt runs cold
on the heights of the
taurus mountains beyond human footfall
where a tumble of springs
gathers and spills
into the mountain’s interior dark
un known
un seen
an underworld
worshipped by an assyrian king
frozen in bas-relief
*
braided water comes together
on the lower slopes
silting and shifting
with ease
a land between two rivers
weaving nature’s borders
swift river
great water
flooding the alluvial plains
seeding willow and poplar
eel grass and cattail
duckweed
stone wort
papyrus
*
you loved the river’s edge
the water’s earthy scent
boats and fishermen
sparrows and babblers
flesh picked to bone
over hot coals
the smoke of grilled
masgouf
and you loved to stand
in the gulls’ kaw
listening
to the ebb and swell of stories
keleks swallowed whole by ancient tides
reclaiming the spoils of empire
winged genies
human-headed bulls
ceramic bronze
stone
further back
a river
running black
with the ink of dissolving words
tides bleeding to dusk
a river
of mirrors open to midnight skies
a ceaseless siege
of the place
you called home
*
your voice comes from afar now
an echo
of the mountain’s interior dark
and I tilt south south-east
to the city of peace
madinat as-salam
but drought and dams
war and man have rendered the river listless
seawater intrudes from the gulf
rusted boats
hulk in the water
while the kelek’s oars
graze the river’s floor
and a fisherman stands singing
to a river
of broken mirrors
open to the sky
the days are gone
when life treated us fairly
where is our helping brother
who was with us?
he walked away and
deserted us
*
there is a boy
who asks a man
to take him out on the dying river
ties bread to nets
pulls oars with might
greets the river
hello
prays to god
to catch a fish
pulls the net
feels it resist
and there you are
back from the dark
on the edge of the river
waiting
for the fish to come in
to tell us stories of the tides
so that a river
of silver mirrors
opens to the sky
kelek a traditional wooden raft from the times of ancient Mesopotamia used in Iraq and Türkiye
masgouf grilled and seasoned carp traditionally cooked over hot coals and considered one of Iraq’s national dishes
madinat as-salam the ancient historic name for the ‘round city’ of Baghdad during the Abbasid period
fisherman and boy these figures in the fourth and fifth sections of the poem were drawn from a documentary about the Tigris River in Iraq; the following lines were directly quoted from the song of a local Iraqi fisherman featured in the documentary: ‘the days are gone/when life treated us fairly/where is our helping brother/who was with us?/he walked away/and deserted us’ (Iraq’s Dying Rivers, Al Jazeera World Documentary, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3AYZhSjxI)
Shirin Abedinirad, Evocation, 2013. Land art, Central Desert, Iran. Using mirrored circles partially buried in sand, the work conjures the illusion of water in the desert, reflecting the sky across the dunes and transforming absence into mirage, longing, and wonder. Artwork courtesy of featured artist Shirin Abedinirad.
