Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman
When the moon woke the sky broke open
Releasing rain of blood
The red covered the desert floor
She went to the oracle that lives among the caves
Of the prophet
“Oh, great seer what of this bloody morning?”
The soothsayer gave no words of comfort
But warning
The legend speaks of the red rain
Of the men who come from fallen comets
Their weapons killing stars on their way down
They look for black gold in the sand
They leave the bodies of her children to float down in a red haze onto the earth
When she slept the rain continued
The men of the village below beat the sky with their questions held in closed fists
And thus the rain continues until all of her stars have fallen
The sky an empty black abyss
The only light is that of the mother of tides
Her tears are clear
The water that falls cleanses the blooded sand in mourning.
***
Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman is a bi-racial Muslim writer, historian, poet, and artist. Her first book of poetry The Raven, The Bayou, & The Willow is forthcoming through FlowerSong Press Spring 2022. She is a Brooklyn Poets Fellow, a Rad(ical) Poetry Fellow, and a poet for the Houston Grand Opera & MFAH’s event “The Art of Intimacy.” Her work can be found in (Art) WORDPEACE and Mixed Magazine, (Fiction) Crack the Spine Literary Magazine, (Poetry) Boundless 2021: The Anthology of the Rio Grande River Valley International Poetry Festival, and others.