I still recall the last time I spoke to an
alien, or perhaps merely imagined it to be so. It happened immediately after
the first drops of blood—later known as menstruation—appeared. I curled up in a
corner, watching the wall where it walked in transparent attire, playing cards
next to a widow spider. I don't know if it was truly a widow, but perhaps my
mood at the time made me assume it.
From that moment, I imagined Eve dreaming of the
respectable apple. Imagined her exhausted, suffering the cycle. Imagined her
startled by the fact of her femaleness. I saw her in my mind attempting to flee
the obsessive-compulsive disorder, the doubt, and the petty anxieties.
Imagining herself pregnant, her belly immense, and her legs swollen from fluid
retention. I pictured her with one eye open and one eye closed, like a resting
wolf.
Then the alien suddenly stung me; I opened my
eyes and found it wearing Adam's mask, recounting the familiar story from the
perspective of the victim who fell into the trap of temptation
Amirah Al Wassif is an award-winning poet and published author. Her poetry collection For Those Who Don’t Know Chocolate was published in February 2019 by Poetic Justice Books & Arts, followed by the illustrated children’s book The Cocoa Boy and Other Stories in February 2020. In 2022, Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company released her poetry collection How to Bury a Curious Girl, and her latest collection, The Rules of Blind Obedience, was published in December 2024.
Her work has appeared in numerous print and online publications, including South Florida Poetry, Birmingham Arts Journal, Hawaii Review, The Meniscus Chiron Review, The Hunger, Writers Resist, Right Now, Reckoning, New Welsh Review, and Event Magazine, among others.
the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan
