In Paris ask fourchette
& a boiled egg is served, in Fès
map medina lines in sugar cubes
endless concentric squares
to step in & out

or was it Dusseldorf, Hyderabad,
Calgary where I licked rogue grains from fingertips?

Reading Le Soir,
pourchassée en Italie, tolérée en Espagne
my hyphen a fissure border
to bore beneath, lightly

Nijmegen square, sip coffee
wear purple dress (a viable risk)
light rebounds each mote prism
plum composes occasion

Pin drops, pointillism
a step in either direction enjambs
horizon & I wake twice—

once, newsprint palm tongue
stained w/ turmeric

twice, my bony satellite fist
stuffed in your armpit

Beijing Cairo Ottawa Catania

sisters

Claire Farley is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa and co-editor of Canthius, a feminist literary journal. Her poetry has been published in Arc, Ottawater, (parenthetical), and Bywords, among other places. She is the 2016 recipient of Arc’s Diana Brebner Prize.

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