this isn't the time for this poem but it is
i wish the adhan would cease
and all the churches would
turn into pretty museums
a memory for the ornamental stories
we make up and believe
and teach our children to teach
make up another
about a mother who gave birth
to a daughter
we’ll say this is the child who healed
and turned all the wild into wine
i believe i believed in miracles
once upon a time
a platter of fish to feed a nation
and this one right here is another
when i look out at the Mediterranean
i imagine a woman walking the length
of water
she’ll be thirty-three maybe
she’ll be shaping wood work
in the shade in the shape of trees
her palms and feet barely marked by metal
she’ll be in love with her own body
and she won’t promise me anything
she won’t die for my sins
and won’t ask me to obey
she’ll say the whole point of living
is that eventually we stop.
and all the churches would
turn into pretty museums
a memory for the ornamental stories
we make up and believe
and teach our children to teach
make up another
about a mother who gave birth
to a daughter
we’ll say this is the child who healed
and turned all the wild into wine
i believe i believed in miracles
once upon a time
a platter of fish to feed a nation
and this one right here is another
when i look out at the Mediterranean
i imagine a woman walking the length
of water
she’ll be thirty-three maybe
she’ll be shaping wood work
in the shade in the shape of trees
her palms and feet barely marked by metal
she’ll be in love with her own body
and she won’t promise me anything
she won’t die for my sins
and won’t ask me to obey
she’ll say the whole point of living
is that eventually we stop.
Recipient of the 2019 Edward Stanley award for poetry, Rewa Zeinati is the author of the poetry chapbook, Bullets & Orchids, and the founder of the literary magazine, Sukoon. Her work can also be found in various journals and anthologies based in the US, UK, Australia and Arab-speaking regions. Originally from Lebanon, she currently considers Metro Detroit her new home.
Art: Molly Dunham
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