Other Voices Magazine

The Monthlies

Winner February 2010

“Actually, I shouldn’t compare a woman to a crop,” said Rachel. “We’re really more connected to the sea than the earth, don’t you think? You know, the way we’re always drowning” – Bryna Wasserman, The Naked Island

The Cycle
By: Jessica Noujeim

gently undulating waves of
tea bags and
phone calls soprano murmurs rising
tremolos of curse words
seasoned
with tears and inky river
smeared white
towels
inviting indents in bed sheets from elbows curled and
tucked the window blinking empty the moon
waxes and
wanes
wanes and wails
Whales mother whales
forsake their appetites and brave
the oceanʼs cold, monotonous
grip
for the calf, always for
the calf
she knows oh she knows but she
goes
maybe it will be different this time
she thinks the water
sinister masseuse
silver hands soft anaesthetic her lifeʼs milk slowly
seeping
swimming hump-backed as her home becomes
inescapable an annual
asylum a choice
another cup of tea

Jessica Noujeim is currently finishing her last year of high school in Vancouver, BC. She is passionate and hopeful about emerging as a unique young voice in the literary world.

← Prev   Archive   Next →