Unsettled soul, what are you singing?
What are you humming?
Turbulent leaves utter a sad sound, a scream
when the merciless hands of the cruel wind
shuffle them up—
this sounds like when a little child
randomly turns the pages of a newspaper,
then throws it in the dustbin.
Unsettled soul, what are you singing?
What are you humming?
The cruel wind is chasing the newspaper
to toss it aimlessly in the air.
For years, you are bound to dizziness & anxiety;
Now, I understand why you are singing.
Let your chant waft in the air!
& let the fat of the cumbrous camel’s hump thaw!
Ali Znaidi
Ali Znaidi (blog) lives in Redeyef, Tunisia where he teaches English at Tunisian public secondary school. His work has appeared in The Camel Saloon, Phantom Kangaroo, BoySlut, The Rusty Nail, Yes, Poetry, The Fib review, Ink Sweat and Tears, Mad Swirl, Red Fez, Unlikely Stories: Episode IV, & more. His debut poetry chapbook Experimental Ruminations was published in September 2012 by Fowlpox Press (Canada). He also writes flash fiction for the Six Sentence Social Network.