2019 SPRING POETRY CONTEST WINNER

NORTHEAST OHIO SPOTLIGHT

meteorology is the science of remembering
​the sky stays relatively the same

Poetry by ​​Inam Kang

in poverty, the sky felt like
an unattainable parody. i say parody
like everyone reads stars and
my brothers and i just yell about good
shine on a black sheet. we grew
big in the after, made the sky a different
thing. nobody’s home at the right
time. my mother there on the couch
with a telephone and du’a.
say bismillah a million times,
say hello to a new home. every single
morning, my family makes a run for
bigger wealth. still, there is the sky,
each shine set in place like a jewel in
ring. my mother held her own up close
to her eye and still kept an elbow
on the sill. she took a cheap glue
to it because somebody had to
commemorate the wedding with this.
me, bound against her fingers, too. my
brothers, late through the door. we
fish through a screen. again, there’s the
sky. there’s a reason to remember. this
time, not a war. this time, not a lost jewel
in the wrong place. this time, only a
small home where the people spoke
a single language from the tips of their
dry lips. this time, only the sky with
our bodies watching, crooning like
steam from a good meal in
a familiar country.

Inam Kang

Inam Kang is a Pakistan-born poet, student, and curator. His work can be found in Winter Tangerine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, AAWW'S The Margins, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 3: Halal If You Hear Me and other journals and anthologies. He is the current Administrative Director of Winter Tangerine Workshops and splits his time working and living between Cleveland and Southeastern Michigan.