Nasser Alsinan

A Smooth Stone Is an Attempt

Death is the most sane
            constant. The sly man
            walks below the door,
                        not through it.
                        When a smooth
                                    stone grew in
                        my room, I asked it
                        to be more jagged
            because a smooth stone
cannot break a mirror. Because inside
            a mirror maze, every face
            warps into another face
                        and death does not
                                    discern grace
                        from grotesque. So I
            chewed the smooth
stone in my mouth because
I am not
                        a sly man, I have
never seen a door,
            I do not know
what to expect from sanity, and
            I do not know
if the smooth stone will
ever grow again.

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Nasser Alsinan is from Qatif, Saudi Arabia. His work has been previously published in Barzakh and Bear Review. More of his writings can be found on his Twitter page @nasser_alsinan