Two Poems

Abstract

66 WLT SUMMER 2021 a POETRY Two Poems by Ahlam Bsharat My Sixteen-Year-Old Mother What is my eightysomething mother doing under these conditions? She watches the situation behind the glass Once the rain stops, she goes out in her plastic slippers with her shawl around her shoulders and her dress belted at the waist like a sixteen-year-old chasing the rain the leaves and plastic bags filled with air that the wind will burst her ten blue fingers making a beautiful dance in the drizzle What is my ninetysomething father doing under these conditions? He is under the covers wondering: What is the use of getting out of bed in these conditions if I cannot be a young man in his twenties? if I don’t sweep the water away from the well and let it pass through the crevices to water the wounds and the thirsty plants? What can I do under these conditions? I forge a word to hammer into the ground of my loneliness so the winds don’t blow away the tent of life above my head and I think of my sixteen-year-old mother who is still playing outside, I call out to her: Come back home, daughter and I think of my twentysomething father who tarries to tend his wounds so I embrace him: stitch what wounds you can lest blood flow from your palms You are still young life lies before you. And I think of you: What are you doing under these conditions? You will calmly answer in a tone that disturbs one’s sleep: Nothing. I am doing nothing. Photo Studio I fear new places unfamiliar streets a new spoon strangers first seeing the entire scene or part of it crossing to the café So I turn the other way and firmly lock the door Feels like I know the smith whose hand twisted the metal like a piece of cloth giving a slight disturbance in its width I fear the words I fling making me more like a soldier a sharpshooter at the breast of loneliness at the eye of ugliness around the head of love and at insects on flowers In the wide abyss into which I stretch my hand to touch yours More than anything, I fear for you so I close my eyes on your image lest you escape from the photo studio of my imagination Translations from the Arabic By Omnia Amin Ahlam Bsharat is a Palestinian novelist, poet, children’s author, and teacher of creative writing. She is a prominent and highly regarded author in the Arab world and internationally. Her books have been included in IBBY lists, shortlisted for the Palestine Book Award (UK), and finalists for the Etisalat Award for Children’s Literature (UAE). Omnia Amin earned her PhD in modern and contemporary English literature from Queen Mary University of London. She is an author, translator, and professor at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University in Dubai, UAE. MOTAZ AZAIZA / COURTESY OF THE ARTIST ...