Hedy Habra: “The Keyhole”
THE KEYHOLE
This is not the outline
of a silhouette.
I am drawing a keyhole
to find my way
out of my own cell.
This is the black silk
thread spun by the ink
brush rising out
of sweat and blood.
—After Wadada Leo Smith’s Red Balance
Hedy Habra has authored two poetry collections, Under Brushstrokes, finalist for the USA Best Book Award and the International Poetry Book Award, and Tea in Heliopolis, winner of the USA Best Book Award and finalist for the International Poetry Book Award. Her story collection, Flying Carpets, won the Arab American National Book Award’s Honorable Mention and was finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Her work appears in Cimarron Review, The Bitter Oleander, Blue Fifth Review, Cider Press Review, Drunken Boat, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Gargoyle, Nimrod, Poet Lore, World Literature Today, and Verse Daily.