Now that you have written,
you remember it only as you wrote.
Your poetry becomes your truth.
Beauty that makes sense cannot be true.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Watan / Nation / Homeland
"Why didn't you speak in German?"
Her son is annoyed.
Martha tried for years
to hold her tongue just right
so she could catch the 'ain.
Her blonde hair went gray
and wrinkles covered over her paleness.
Finally, she can pass as one of them.
She would probably agree, though she doesn't know,
that it is only because she promised
to be one with John, in life as in death.
She will take this rebuke from her son,
rather than explain.
Martha does not mind waiting a few minutes - even hours -
with her son and grand-daughters,
outside the door to the embassy,
of what was once her Heimland.
Her son is annoyed.
Martha tried for years
to hold her tongue just right
so she could catch the 'ain.
Her blonde hair went gray
and wrinkles covered over her paleness.
Finally, she can pass as one of them.
She would probably agree, though she doesn't know,
that it is only because she promised
to be one with John, in life as in death.
She will take this rebuke from her son,
rather than explain.
Martha does not mind waiting a few minutes - even hours -
with her son and grand-daughters,
outside the door to the embassy,
of what was once her Heimland.
Empty-handed
"No files," says the voice emboldened
by the bullet-proof glass.
"Just take out all the necessary papers
and put them on the tray."
The tall, long-limbed, and Sudanese man
is visibly at unease in his dark coffee skin.
He gives an awkward smile while fumbling with his papers.
"Etfadalee," he says, asking her politely to proceed.
She proceeds.
"Why do you want to go to Germany?"
"Why is your son living in Germany?"
"Will you come back?"
"Wait, do you have permission to live
here?"
Hassan from Djuba village answers
deferentially
His son, Djamal, is an engineer in Munich,
Hassan says it with a small hint of pride
for Djamal is not a refugee.
"Yes," he says, "I will come back."
He does not say, "Insha Allah.
I am old and will soon die,
and life - I know - gives no guarantees.
For what happens if there is a volcano cloud
laughing ashes on your plans?"
Hassan had seen the man before him in line
refused an appointment, "You forgot
your medical insurance and bank statement.
Please make another appointment."
He saw the man gather his papers,
heavier with disappointment,
"Please," Hassan begged God, "For once, I pray,
Let me return empty-handed."
by the bullet-proof glass.
"Just take out all the necessary papers
and put them on the tray."
The tall, long-limbed, and Sudanese man
is visibly at unease in his dark coffee skin.
He gives an awkward smile while fumbling with his papers.
"Etfadalee," he says, asking her politely to proceed.
She proceeds.
"Why do you want to go to Germany?"
"Why is your son living in Germany?"
"Will you come back?"
"Wait, do you have permission to live
here?"
Hassan from Djuba village answers
deferentially
His son, Djamal, is an engineer in Munich,
Hassan says it with a small hint of pride
for Djamal is not a refugee.
"Yes," he says, "I will come back."
He does not say, "Insha Allah.
I am old and will soon die,
and life - I know - gives no guarantees.
For what happens if there is a volcano cloud
laughing ashes on your plans?"
Hassan had seen the man before him in line
refused an appointment, "You forgot
your medical insurance and bank statement.
Please make another appointment."
He saw the man gather his papers,
heavier with disappointment,
"Please," Hassan begged God, "For once, I pray,
Let me return empty-handed."
how to deal with people ignoring you
1) Do what a friend of mine used to: actually call out to people who had deliberately ignored him, and if they looked down, he would bend down to look up at them and wave and say "HI! It's me! N...." :)
2) Call them on the phone while standing squarely in their line of vision. When they see it's you that's calling, say "Yes, I thought the bell would ring. Am I on your phone still? Good. I thought you knew me too."
3) Ask a common friend to introduce you. Better yet, ask someone they don't know to introduce you to them. Imagine the confusion when they find someone they don't know is introducing them to someone they already know but tried (unsuccessfully) to ignore. "Hey {their name, cos you know it}, how are you? Meet {your name}."
4) Conjure funny scenarios in which people ignore you, and you get them back with your supreme wit, and hopefully both parties laugh. Cause laughter, my friends, is the manna of the gods.
Yeah yeah. :) Next time I'll try the other options :)
2) Call them on the phone while standing squarely in their line of vision. When they see it's you that's calling, say "Yes, I thought the bell would ring. Am I on your phone still? Good. I thought you knew me too."
3) Ask a common friend to introduce you. Better yet, ask someone they don't know to introduce you to them. Imagine the confusion when they find someone they don't know is introducing them to someone they already know but tried (unsuccessfully) to ignore. "Hey {their name, cos you know it}, how are you? Meet {your name}."
4) Conjure funny scenarios in which people ignore you, and you get them back with your supreme wit, and hopefully both parties laugh. Cause laughter, my friends, is the manna of the gods.
Yeah yeah. :) Next time I'll try the other options :)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
what good...
what good is time -
if waiting does not stop,
what use is a clock?
what good will words do
if they cannot bring him back from
leaving: that other kind of death?
if waiting does not stop,
what use is a clock?
what good will words do
if they cannot bring him back from
leaving: that other kind of death?
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