frozen in migration (for Fatima El Tayeb)

i am unspectacular
yet never commonplace
in your imagination
a curious contradiction

i am not transient
for your convenience
in your education
not even a mention

i am suspended in time
with no accent
except in your perception
always under dominion

at no time curious
consistently suspicious
you stow me in a place
of your own comfort

you not noticing
i have been here
for six decades
does not make me invisible

i will generate my own journey
above your vocabulary
remain in existence
not just an appendix
to your imagined curriculum
i will create
new idioms
new expressions

i was frozen
in migration
i will now melt
into your conscience
and stay

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This poem was performed live on several occasions by the author. It is published for the first time on The Attention Span.