hello anonymous readers and imaginary friends. it has been so long. i am a bad girl. in some fun ways, and in some non-fun ways. my habit of running around cyberspace looking for poetry to share with you has been put aside for a while to accommodate a whole lotta work and some major walks in NYC.
i am happily in the US, running around questioning where i belong in this world. i live in nyc when i visit,
so its not a vacation to me, its another facet of life, and it makes the worlds of beirut and
dubai seem to ethereal and distant and bizarre. and yet when am back in that region, everything is simply,
home. who knows where we are meant to live.
i have not written poems in nyc. i, for some reason, do not write much poetry here. maybe i will write some in arizona or california soon, but poetry seems to be deeply involved with my arab world.
i will be reading poetry at IPS, institute for policy studies in Washington DC on the 11th. should be fun. debate the question of palestine and activism through poetry and film.
i am working on my film.
i am working on my book.
i am working on my ease of flow and heart strength, and open wings and light filled eyes and loose limbed
strides and a smile to counteract everything.
i was having dinner with a friend last week and he gave me the latest issue of Banipal, on Arab-American literature and i found this poem, read to me by my sister, over a dinner with guac and pinto de gallo, and tacos and so on…it was a great little piece, nothing about it remarkable till the last line hit me and
knocked my breath away.
brave poet. brave brave poet. specially being an arab. i will type up the poem for you, reader.
see how nice i am?

Interfaith Conference
by
Assef Al-Jundi

Talking is much better than hostilities,

but ultimately,

what are you here for?

With so many holy turfs to protect,

what meaningful thing

can you hope to achieve?

Most of you proclaim a belief

in an all powerful God-

One who rewards

Worship and obediance.

Punishes

free thinking and sin.

An afterlife dictator

who aims to run a pure society of devotees

in heaven,

and burn all undesirables

in the gas chambers of hell.

A lunatic

by normal human sensibilities.

You differ in your books and rituals.

In how you deify and comply.

Each of you believes

your skin is safe in the next world

because you are on the soft side

of your mad ruler.

The end of the world,

as you know it,

is Love.