Cloud 9 I must thank you for setting off my hot air balloon. For the warmth you gave, for the windy push you sent my way Because now I ascend amidst clouds and sunset sky I see softness in the world around me I see the birds that seem to never fall They speak of freedom and quiet power to rise forever higher I see colors that seemed muted to me once As the sky titled my chin into its rose-colored glass They sing purple-pink hues of the heaven that you have brought me to The wind blows a careful […]
Up on Poppy Hill
From up on Poppy Hill From up on Poppy hill sits a whitewashed cottage Its flowers bright, its grass green And under waving flags overlooking the windswept sea Sits a girl on poppy hill, amidst the pink blooms She throws her head back, laughing with the summer salt breeze Hair in braids, pink dress sweet And I watch her, as I pedal up to Poppy Hill Amidst the pink blooms she waves at me The flowers sing my name, rosy as I am when she smiles Dancing, sprawled across her sun-filled lawn Her eyes bright like the sun’s warmth And […]
january mornings
january mornings frostbitten nose, pink buried unto my pillow window of glass and ice droplets quiet, silent, wind-cold and still leaching into the soft layers around me sun, meaningless behind the gray on an endlessly repeated january morning.
Not My Own Person
Not My Own Person I am not in and of myself Farthest from original, I have stolen From those around me Details I kept close to my heart Were once unobserved nuances from this world around me For I am not my own person But I am the artist my mother handed paintbrushes to I am the mess of color of her bright shades of crayola markers I am the uneven out of line coloring books she gave me And I am the screaming car rides with my father I am his favorite 2000’s music of thumping bass […]
Phone Call to Society
Its ringing, its ringingPick up! I sayWhat parts of my speech do you wish to push away?What will you avoid by declining the call?Do you think you I’ll back down? Do you think I will fall?For you to hear my words, how must I reach out?Must I dance? Must I sing? Must I scream, must I shout?What will take for your mind to open and seeThat we wish for love, we wish for equality Before we had no phones, no way to speak, to screamBut now that we do, we are declined, with it, our dreamsOf a place where my […]
Border
Ramallah, Palestine; “Shira? Shira, get up.” My mother roused me from my cramped bed while my brother still slept. Her eyes were dark and ran with circles. She was worried and sleepless after so many nights without my father. She had to work extra shifts over the past few days and the work had ripped calluses in her hands and frazzled her. Every time he left for work across the border, it took him as many as five days to return. The ordeal sent my mother spiraling, worrying each time that he would not come back from his job, and […]
Librarian
Glasses perched low across a crooked noseHis somber eyes rarely liftedInstead, they grazed over catalogsDark ink spilling over themHis hunch, deep, unmovingAs he pored over texts of the pastWhile his arched skeletal handsDrew volumes from their shelvesHe climbed down from his step ladderMiniscule against his towering shelvesClicking against the linoleumIn tidy polished shoesHis brown shirt, tucked into slacksSleeves rolled for slender forearmsThat hauled the doors open each morningHe tsked at the slightest disturbanceGazing disapprovingly at those who whisperedIn his sacred sanctuaryAnd when his brown eyes did meetThey shone and they sparkledWith boundless knowledgeWith a million stories untoldEyes of wisdom, of […]
Like in the Books
I wake up to birdsongunder duvets of fine cottonStaring at the blue skyIn nightgowns of silk and chartreuseLike in the books of royalty- I pick up strawberries from untouched fieldsMy dress cupped under berriesTo be spread as jam over bites of sweet toastTo feed to the nymphs and fairiesLike in the books of woodland fairies- I hunt through old boughs and willowsTristing through the briars as I runTo the secret place that the world doesn’t knowOf hollowed caves and forest clearingsLike in the books of adventure- The trees whisper to me in secretDotting the floor with dappled sunlightSparkling with rays […]
Dreams
As she lays her head down to sleepShe dreams of a world of love and of peaceShe dreams of a place where everyone smilesA place she would want to raise her child. Where her mothers and sisters can walk late at nightWhere her brothers are not shot because their skin isn’t lightWhere her friends can live with whoever they pleaseWithout fearing guns at their temples, and batons at their knees. Where the government is for the people, and not just for someWhere human rights are promised to every single oneWhere all have education, clean water, clean airWhere the poor are […]
Apology
I nervously tapped my feet against the cold linoleum floor. Amidst the white jackets and bleached uniforms, my torn blue jacket stood out in the waiting room. I had spent hours here already. I felt my legs losing all feeling, the hours I had spent in cramped in this chair were taking its toll. People beside me spoke indecipherably, their words a jumbled mess of concern and worry and prayers. I had no one beside me to voice my concern with. Instead, my eyes stared blankly ahead, searching for the lean doctor who had whisked her away. I trembled with […]
Marginalized
“Atifa? Won’t you eat? You must look healthy when the guardians come”. The nurse held the steaming hot bowl of porridge near my sister’s face as she looked away blankly. I had long stopped forcing her to eat and drink when the nurses had come with the meager bowls of food. I had forced down the bowl only a few minutes ago, so I would look “healthy”. The guardians who came for adoption often picked the strongest, the ones who looked “normal” enough to fit in with their privileged neighborhoods, ones that didn’t drag attention and raised questions. That was […]
Phases
The rain drags in heavy bursts, pellets on the roof,and the quiet clinks of folk music sound from downstairs,Kapok trees swaying outside the dirty glass.But when she looks up at the skythe moon, half-cuppedTippingstares back at her. The wind shifts the grains of sand against walls,Clouds of dust billow from the groundSilence surrounds the open desert plainbut when he looks up at the skythe moon, half-cuppedTipping precariouslystares back at him. The pull of the tides rumbles in the distance,Their salty scent balancing on the humid airWaves crashing against weakening rockBrushing against the white-washed brickbut when he looks up at the […]
