Ready for Ramadan: A Mid-Shaaban Poem

By Mohja Kahf

My palette is so overloaded,
my tongue so freighted, forgetting
its four basic tastes, corroded
by plenty, lolling in fullness, letting

the ease of receiving the blessing
lull me in the sleep of the sated:
I am ready for the Ramadan vetting
Oversugared, oversalted, weighted

by indigestible angers, the burn
of the heavy heart, I am ready
for lessons at the desk of the stern
schoolmaster, hunger. Time to return

to the Ramadan table, tidy and spare
as the bone of my need made bare