Blotting Paper Poem by Fatima Nusairat

Such as blotting paper
we absorb everything:
Sunrise, darkness,
roses, thorn,
bitter, Basil
lightning, thunder
Ravens, Snakes,
Worms under the bark,
The bark,
Roots,
bread and salt,
Plague,
Dust and ash,
Tar,
Wound and the fire of wound,
and the blood above the wound,
The death,
the bones that a thousand
thousand years ago
recumbent motionless,
The rust and forgetfulness,
The dried roots and rock,
The roads and intentions,
The milk of our mothers,
And our fingernails,
which were eroded under dirt,
and dirt, what walked over,
Or what walked beneath.

We absorb everything
Even black misery, our guest all life.