yasmin kloth

keeper of things

You are my keeper
of all things mundane
and beautiful. I am
your keeper of light.

This time in your wanderings
you can’t find the moon.
You wonder at the night
and the darkness.

You’ve tidied up your path
home, followed the cracks
in the sidewalk, closed
open gates belonging
to strangers’ gardens.
You think this will call
her body from behind
a cloud.

I say patience, child.
If you give me
time and moonlight.
I will teach you how
to chase a ghost.

Yasmin Mariam Kloth writes creative nonfiction and poetry. Her work has aired on NPR and appeared on npr.org. She co-translated a book of poetry by the French-Canadian author Mona Latif Ghattas called Sails For Exile, and has had work published by the online literary magazine Gravel and the West Texas Literary Review. Yasmin lives in Cincinnati, OH with her husband and their young daughter, who is a never-ending source of youthful inspiration.