My beloved city. We are the lucky ones. We worship a woman immortalized by stone, her trek impossible now. Our realms are severed by sky. Oh, what blood have we forgotten? Even when the sun sets the same monsters patrol our streets. My beloved stone city, fed false borders. Oh cruel superiority, how much culture have you spoiled? Oh cruel delusions, how much blood have we forgotten? Demise comes for us all, no matter the proximity to light. History says the chosen one places foot and sword firm even before the clouds dissolve. My boundless sky, I know we used to be yours, too. There’s evidence in our eyes; in candles lit for weddings; with the word for spiders. Please, before the stone city falls, Goddess forgive us for our hubris. Forgive us for us, with even our wells drowned in history, our names dedicated to myth, dedicated to easier passage. Please, let every realm return to how we were. Let earth rejoin sky. Return and become more. Please, my beloved city, want it, still.
Added: Friday, July 5, 2024 / Used with permission. This poem originally appeared in Summer Farah's chapbook "I could die today and live again" (Game Over Books 2024). This poem published through the Poem of the Week Series is part of the Poetry Coalition's 2024 slate of programs in the spring and summer that reflect the transformative impact poetry has on individual readers and communities across the nation, and is made possible in part by the Academy of American Poets with support from the Mellon Foundation.
Photo by Madison Perez.
Summer Farah is a Palestinian American writer from California. The author of the chapbook I could die today and live again (Game Over Books, 2024), she organizes with the Radius of Arab American Writers and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She is calling on you to recommit yourself to the liberation of the Palestinian people each day.
Image Description: Summer Farah stands in front of a microphone while reading from her chapbook. She looks down at the page thoughtfully. Summer wears glasses with circle frames, a charcoal-grey top, a gold necklace of a map of Palestine, and a Palestinian keffiyeh, which is white with a distinctive black pattern. She has brown shoulder-length curly hair. Behind her are bookshelves and an open chair.
