How can you live and leave
in a breath as the door closes
I too am broken
red upon tongues of red.
If you dream of water
of your portrait as the wound
that is also a house
If Hell is lost, I will not disappear
We will go to cafes
and read each other quietly
to survive,
and I will remember
you not with my eyes but with the passing
of silence between two flames.
It is the first day of your life
as my imminent bruise,
I who has dreamt
of escape, who with a flash in my throat has swallowed
my own life like a roll of film
white like the sun
touching me to touch you with my
shadow, and I am brought back
I am made of doors, and doors upon doors,
upon the blackness after them,
once, I have forgotten
your silence
is a language of its own.
Rome Smaoui is a Tunisian poet and writer. Her work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Sonder Midwest, The Roadrunner Review, and other places. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastics Art & Writing Awards, and the 2019 Faulkner Wisdom Competition. In 2021, she was featured in Narrative Magazine’s 30 Under 30 List. She is currently completing her undergraduate studies in Literature & Creative Writing at The University of Manchester.
