From the Book of Miriam the Prophetess

Abstract

from the Book of Miriam the Prophetess Kazim Ali 1. the prayer at the river bank this hand made hard by work & slavery has never yet turned against its own blood. this hand though chattel has never murdered. here at the edge of the river ankles choked with water-reeds & eyes burning and thirteen I am dripping with my first blood & now my first murder. in the name of my blood dropping to the river-bank & in the name of blood let this small basket of my brother sink like a stone and the deep rush him to death quickly [End Page 35] oh let Miriam the slave-daughter of Hebrews walk from this cold sacrifice into freedom. let even the waves part to make way for us. oh dear One let never again in the history of the world a slave woman be at odds with the tide. oh One of the rushing water let never again in the history of slave-women the waters swallow up our babies. 2. the plagues bat toothed & frog winged the pyramids remember Joseph's dream. seven years abundance. seven years famine. seven times seven of wandering under the empty sky. something's always falling out of the sky: cockroaches hitting the stones like coconuts. frogs slapping down with quiet burps. manna & quail for heaven's sake. well, I wait for the time our savior might rise up out of the good ground. when the bush won't burn. when the river won't bleed. 3. the river turns red I had hoped to terrify by our fierce & dreadful miracles. [End Page 36] but my brother turned the river red & the Queen's face flowered. she leaned over & hissed in Fir'aun's ear: there. now your quarrel with the Hebrew God is over. let these people go. even the Goddess of the Nile is giving you her Sacred sign. 4. he came down from the mountain I will take the stones in my small strong hands. I will teach my brother to stammer out those words. And I will try and try and try to forget: it was Fir'aun who first said to us: he that shall not live by the law shall die by the law. 5. the lament of Miriam the Prophetess while he was on the mountain receiving God's ear I was on the ground sweating in my toe-length robe, the stretch of burlap & the back of my neck wet under the badly tied hair. [End Page 37] while he put aside his sandals to walk on sacred ground I walked in mine through manure to pen the cows. smelling like a horse. soothing thousands of anxious wanderers who left their slave-homes to come where? here? the holy desert of wandering? & when he stood up & called manna down from the sky I kneaded dough. for hours. to bake bread. he brought the quail I tore off the feathers. chopped off each head. squeezed the neck with my fist. draining the blood. he was so far away at the head of the column. he never seemed to notice we were getting older. dying. I cleaned each body. shaved their heads. clipped their nails. shrouded them in sheets. & covered them gently in sand. those who came after might look at the mounds & know that Israel came this way. that Miriam lived. that under each sand dune was a forgotten Hebrew who stumbled towards her last end wanting only such a small thing before her quiet death: to hear God whispering in her ears the sure way home. 6. the Promise this land is your Promise to the sky which gave bread that you might live. on this place build a temple. where exile will end & every wanderer comes home. let even Cain and all the condemned come home. let even Hagar & Ishmael come home. [End Page 38] 7. Miriam remembers the last plague oh Fir'aun. after all these years lay...