Notes on Measuring Time

Seelai Karzai

Notice how it hides in groves and groves of orange trees. One

petal at a time. Tell me if it’s silly to spend energy on this? Look

at how it snags on smooth alloy bombs as they sail clean through

blue skies, cutting jagged paths among clouds of water and ice.

How am I to measure time? Children sprout faster than

colonies of coral reefs. Does the ocean have notes

for me? Notice how difficult it is to measure when it also hides in missiles.

Seelai Karzai is a poet and cultural organizer from Queens, New York. A member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association, her work appears in Lantern Review, Newtown Literary Journal, and in the New Moons anthology edited by Kazim Ali from Red Hen Press. Seelai earned her MFA from the University of Oregon.