a September is had
in Shatila a 14 years-old girl wrote

“My love I’m like a rose
some days I decorate weddings

other days graves”
She’s not alone

 

Dear Sister

life is a conspiracy
As zygote

you were subaltern you couldn’t speak
or you spoke when no one was listening

were spoken for when silent
a wedding

 

Dear Sister

in Phoenix an American woman’s been saving
Afghani women

Her French husband who helped
in the kitchen said

The Congolese understand
only violence

 

*

Fady Joudah‘s 2nd poetry collection, Alight, is available from Copper Canyon Press. “Dear Sister” appears in Textu, his third collection, forthcoming from Copper Canyon ebooks. Each poem appearing in Textu is 160 characters long, and composed on a cellphone. Joudah’s translation, Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, is shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.