Khadija Anderson
    Khadija Anderson returned in 2008 to her native Los Angeles after 18 years exile in Seattle. Khadija's poetry has been published in Pale House (forthcoming), The Ark Magazine, Unfettered Verse, CommonLine Project, Qarrtsiluni, Gutter Eloquence, Unlikely Stories, The Citron Review, Killpoet, Wheelhouse 9, and Phantom Seed among other print and online publications. Her poem Islam for Americans was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize. Khadija holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University LA and her first book will be published through Writ Large Press later this year.


The Los Angeles River of Desire

It is a real river and against
what you would think
it does not desire water,
it has that.
It does not desire a concrete bottom, concrete banks
or mostly wonderful graffiti,
it has that.
It does not desire baseballs from Dodger Stadium
or horse manure from Los Feliz stables or cast off condoms
from its many lovers.
It has that.
It does not desire 400 tributaries
It does not desire being the boundary
between LA and the Eastside,
it has that.
It does not desire a group
that is trying to release it
from its manmade constraints,
it has that.
The Los Angeles River
does not desire desire.
It has that.




© 2012 Khadija Anderson
Khadija Anderson was a Featured Poet who read her poetry at the May 2012 Second Sunday Poetry Series