The Dyer's PalmprintBy Miriam Sagan
Henna footprints on cloth —
I also went looking for God
In the pre-sahara, the African plate, the Anti-Atlas mountains
Following Venus above the wadi
Evening star hanging over arroyo.Neolithic knot
Snake carved on the polished rock
Rhinoceros, gazelle
Before the water left...
In the Tuareg alphabet
The geometric letters
First lose their vowels
And then their meaning
For all but the white magicians
Or the women palm printing henna
Who can still spell
Your name, sign of the zodiac
Medicinal herbs, minerals, and numbers
An olive tree
The saint's tomb
The medicinal names of God.The greatest dangers to the cloth
Headscarf, or wedding blanket
Are envy and ill-will
Spit, spit,
Against the evil gaze.To learn is to remember
The angel touched your lip, too
In the womb
And made you forget
Like Babel destroyed
Or Alexandria burned
The glyphs, the alphabet.Pentagrams, crosses, stars
Dots, squares, horizon line
Roman granaries fortified
On the fringe of the Sahara desert.
A bride, an apostle
St. Mary of Egypt
Who resurrects the pieces, like Isis,
Who collects the shattered.
Stem cell, consonants, constellation
Eve's footprints in sand...