WHO REAL؟

the return of poem to be read from right to left

                             “[for] when you are ready
                              to follow a tendency of anonymous feathers.”
                                                                   ––Zaina Alsous, A Theory of Birds,

say i ‘well
particular in one no to
backed ive time first the isnt this
disaster a of out us
Notes:

3 Instead of an Arabic footnote, here is a list of artists who inspire, and were with me in the making of this poem ... and so much more (in some kind of order of appearance): Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Elmaz Abinader, Suheir Hammad, Toni Morrison, Tavonne S. Carson, Ava Duvernay, Solmaz Sharif, Monica Sok, Justin Phillip Reed, Xandria Phillips, Charleen McClure, Nabila Lovelace, Ashley M. Jones, Danez Smith, René Magritte, Jay Deshpande, José Olivarez, Jonah Mixon-Webster, The Desert Crew, Fred Moten, John Rufo, S*ean D. Henry-Smith, Andrea Abi-Karam, Belal Mobarak, Jess Rizkallah, Hayan Charara, Randa Jarrar, Zaina Alsous, Roberto Montes, James Baldwin, Mo Browne, Audre Lorde, Adrian Piper, Evie Shockley, Airea D. Matthews, Tyehimba Jess, Harryette Mullen, Safia Elhillo, Ricardo Maldonado, Mejdulene B. Shomali, Philip Metres, and Raymond Antrobus.  Shokran.

Marwa Helal, "WHO REAL؟" from Ante Body. Copyright © 2022 by Marwa Helal. Reprinted by permission of Nightboat Books.
More Poems by Marwa Helal