The Flutes of the Djinn
Djelloul Marbrook – United States

Introduction

They say some people, but not all, hear the flutes of djinn —
in English we sometimes call them genies — in Algeria’s
Tuareg country. My mother heard them there.

The Flutes of the Djinn

I don't know, djinn, how much you remember
but I know you measure the Sahara's sands,
wear stars on your fingers
and remember that once on Third Avenue
an old man freed you and asked nothing.
You studied him a long time before you left
to make sure he understood the consequences.
He did. And then he left,
and somewhere a child was born
wearing them on his face.

How do their flutes in the Tuareg night
summon us to the secrets of the djinn,
and how does the sexual electric of stars
wake us to the meanness of our wishes?
I think hearing is easier than seeing them
thanks to our brushes with the vast.
Abhor the misshapenness of words
and make this gnosis your heart:
everything is a facet of the same jewel.