In order to view this poem as the author intended it to appear, we suggest reading it on a computer screen or in the landscape orientation on your phone.

no other
Sharon Rizk

back then, a young woman learned from Bedouins
in the Sahara: there are no strangers,
only degrees of difference.

anyone who passed their tent
was uncle, brother, auntie, sister.
each invited in to sweet tea, lebni, pita, dates.

now she travels up and down a gravel mountain road
to and from a cabin in New Mexico, close by Colorado.
the lesson, bone-embedded, anchored, informs choice.

when she encounters someone stopped upon that road,
especially in the snow times, she will always pause,
shift to neutral, no matter what, and ask, “You OK?”

—
Sharon Rizk received a BA in English Literature and returned to school as an older adult to earn an MS and PsyD in Clinical Psychology. She resides in an LGBTQ community near Santa Fe, NM, where she has a small clinical practice. She is a published poet and has been nominated for a Pushcart. An audio CD of selected poems, The Shadow of Your Longing: Poems to Grow With, was released in 2010.

Know anyone who might appreciate reading Sharon’s poem?
Why not share the link to this page?

Have you read these poems:
Be Like the Sun by Jack Brown
Easter Sunday by William Teets

Table of Contents