By FAHIM ZAMAN
I.
Who knew behind the twelve trees’
ceaseless tears of fiery leaves
and those hundred and one river
coves of green shade there were
only a lone pair of amber eyes?
II.
My cat is immortal:
He was born today.
III.
I found claws, and wear black furs,
Brush daily, grew out my whiskers,
Yet perchance I look in the mirror,
I see someone else; I see her.
IV.
I have watched treehouses, cars, stars,
And you cry, move on, lose your first tooth,
Your first beating from ma,
Your first friend, and I
Made friends with your toy dinosaur
Lost behind the fence. And I have watched,
Watched you make love, your only parent die
From a car crash, move out (the loneliest years),
And move in, and marry. The wedding was here
And I came uninvited, and soon after,
Mary was invited into this world, first-born, and –
And your death soon after and you died, you died and
I never found out why and no one would tell me
And I can only cry when it rains. But I have watched,
Watched Mary cry, move on, lose her first tooth,
Her first beating, and found, by the fence, a triceratops.
And I am thankful forever that you have buried me
Here in your backyard, my love.
V.
Dawon slit Old King Tom’s throat,
nine siths pull him up the moat,
Kasha steals his ghost, you have the most
beautiful voice, and all because
Your mouth foams blood from a blackbird.
VI.
Froth flourished from
gray autumn grave beds
Of the Dickinsons freshly washed of moss. Boot
Stamps the mud,
I ran in the breath of trees, such
Ecstasy: I had drowned Emily
Just as she drowned kittens!
VII.
Number divine! Heavens seven,
seven kittens! Yet even so
One is still so alone.
VIII.
LUNA, i ate yesterday, and all night
i spent cleaning the mess. you’d
be surprised at the gumminess of cat bones
or at how I cried.
but when I woke up this morning,
it had snowed; it had been so long.
all the color gone, branches breaking,
apparitions, dante, and it was all so
so SUBLIME.
Oh, ah how I cried.
were you thinking of me then too,
LUNA?
IX.
Medleys rain on silhouettes, passing foggy LEDs;
Cardboard boxes full of the saddest roars.
Writer | Fahim Zaman ’25 | fzaman25@amherst.edu
Editor | Ruth Zuraw ’25 | rzuraw25@amherst.edu
Artist | Kyla Biscocho ’25 | kbiscocho25@amherst.edu