A Gentle Shower Falls on Santiago Street

By Raitah Jinnat

A little girl first learns to read

when she peels away a street sign:

“onion turnpike”.

The vowels tell me that “I O U”

delicious bhorta balled up

into rice. My mom gently feeds

the mash to me from her fingertips:

to care for moina pakhi in the nest.

 

More perch on Glen Oaks gingko with

fruit whose acrid stink

blooms under my Twinkle Toes,

or on the air-conditioning for

offspring of offspring to come.

 

I used to hate the trips to the

Jackson Heights boutiques

and the Sagar Chinese:

the subway and steps and

the itch of a net sleeve

pounding my eardrums.

 

Setting off fuchka and momo bombs,

or Forest Hills live shows

with friends,

I would do anything to

take those steps again.

 

A little girl first learns to walk

when she peels away a foot brace.

My dad also gently files fables

of life lessons: like of

adding up one to a hundred,

diamonds buried in the wheat.

 

I first learned of God’s word sitting

on a sky carpet with a cobalt mushaf

bigger than my face at a house in Hollis.

“Alif, baa, taa”.

Each letter, another star

in the sky

to tell my mom about later.

Each letter, prophets like Yaqub

once uttered with Peace Upon Him.

 

Time and time again,

love is a good home:

narikel tel drenching the scalp,

salwar kameez and sheets fussed with

as guests are about to arrive,

cha for a moment of respite.

 

I pray harder for a heart

welcoming families and friends like mine,

with an appetite for exploration only

Steinway Street shawarma can satiate.

Burst flames of sundown hues,

and fuckass fake tan

raised in Jamaica Estates,

could never usurp a good home.

 

Daughters of the world’s borough

look for home everywhere,

God’s word aloud

all this time:

the chirping birds,

the subway busking,

warmth of Corona

radiating for all.

 

I hope to hear

more of Him, like

on the way back

when it downpours

through and around

Grand Central Parkway,

so more wheat can grow.

 

Raitah Jinnat is a Queens-based poet and writer. Her Substack newsletter _Raitah, like writer _features personal essays and poetry.