journal

III

over the groundmatterlaid down byabstract bodiessome knownto usas motherswhose givingnow is renderedineffable nowhere concretelike the potential for birthof childrenfrom concrete wombsor as fathers recalled butwhose powersnow are decomposed to bacterial potencies of future men, women andall of those clinging to innervestments like passengershanging off bone-hooksin the walking, love-making hulksof a people to comeover the ground of stonesworld of stones the teeth ofsorting operationsconveyors of scree down vastmountains to the mouths of valleysstones carried by waterwater the agentuniversal solventand wind in the silicasand currentsair movements delicate pliable lifting onesolitary particleand convulsions in the rockspringing out of magmaskin-like shredsa molten blackening surfacefrom the furnace of creatureseverything burnsover the ground of shellsglass smootheda plastic anatomythe husk rubs the placentathe solid fluiddiscrete powderthe soup of lifein the soup of more-than-lifegrinding water to atomstears lostall holding-togetherpassing inall lastinglossover the groundrisen I am onesalt grain of all the ocean of all tongues one wordon its sky-kissed cheek swimmingunder star scatterscintillant

in the library, in the hood, in the mall, in the park

disembarking the blue line at the station designated and dedicated to the National Library I circumnavigated the building looking for an opening, a revolving door, a be-thobed figure approached, and, on the strength of Jo's experience of being asked for academic credentials to become a library member, I

outside the palace inside the museum cats & chairs

we begin with DOOR and door, views from a walk to the shops blue-line metro to the National Museum and Murabba Palace, residence of King Abdulaziz 1939 – 1953, now a centre for historical culture, and home in Riyadh of the Turquoise Mountain initiative founded by King Charles III in 2006:

III

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in the library, in the hood, in the mall, in the park

outside the palace inside the museum cats & chairs

in the hood, as sahafa.