Pink-beige shells and coral dust slept deep inside the limestone that patched the garden’s edge – pale scars where my mother tucked wild portulaca into the criss-crossing cracks of earth. I watched her hands move through the soil tending bougainvillea, periwinkle, and azure morning glory shaping boxes and squares of green against the pale, powdered
I want to learn to love my soft body as if she cradled clutches of speckled killdeer eggs, fat raindrops on ripe saskatoon berries, shaggy hayfields, just before their first haircut, or dandelion puffs, the bigger the better, blowing wishes. I want to learn to love my zigzag stretch marks as if they honoured a
There was no other salad in our home but salata. Greens from the garden spring through fall and the anemic head lettuce for winter. Oil. Vinegar. Salt. The recipe straightforward like all the women in the family. When I tear the leaves my hands are many hands: the thick, worn fingers of Baka the club-nailed
Waking up one day not knowing if I’ll see another Praying to God so he can protect my father and mother We haven’t had enough food to eat since July I wanted to act grown and so I try not to cry I ask myself why this was always happening They say they are killing
Child through war What do you see? Pomegranates, figs, and an olive tree Child through war What do you see? Smoke, steel, and concrete on me Child through war What do you see? Family and friends weeping, crying for me Child through war What do you see? Dark clouds looming, above brown trees Child through
Dr. Khaled Nigim, along with his family, has made Sarnia-Lambton home since 2008. Khaled’s professional background is as an academic and electrical engineer, specializing in renewable energy. Before arriving in Canada almost 25 years ago, Khaled managed the planning and implementation of many infrastructural projects for the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR).
The earth has a heartbeat that bleeds tears In time with a little child’s fear. The holies dare not rest complacent in the belief That humankind will love their neighbors as themselves. The wars and rumours have split open the doors And something much more malicious has entered in. Something stirred the dust and the
NEVER AGAIN! AND YET AGAIN? (for the Holocaust being commited in Palestine by Israel!) Remember you said never again! But here it is again. Remember you said “We will never forget” but here it is again. You said “Genocide is a crime” but here is the crime again. So your words were false then? or
My dear sister: I am so sorry, my sister. No matter how much I speak, I cannot describe the suffering we have endured. I speak to you and weep for everything I have lived through. I remember what I saw, what I experienced, and what I am still experiencing during this war and genocide. We
