Poetry

Zoriah photo

By

Faleeha Hassan

The rain smells of war

Not me this little girl

Who holds her grandmother’s hand

Every time she crosses the street for fear from the eyes of men

No, I am not her

The same girl

Who crosses her years’ war after war

Turns right and left for fear of approaching astray fragment

What the rain is doing now?

Quickly pouring down on my balcony

Like our tears when we miss our father

I told him: don’t be harsh

There are many people

Living in the streets

Be gentle like my mother’s tears when she remembered my father still fighting in the war even at Eid

I told him: instead of your rivers on closed doors

Or streets are afraid to see you

And instead of me still jumping from sad memories to painful ones

Like female Kangaroo

We can find a truce for both of us

To forget all our past

And stay calm

But who can convince my memories

Who convinces the rain?

Two soldiers

Let’s celebrate

Let us run to that hill

Let us climb up the remains of that tank and sing

Let us drink tea under this burned tree

Smoke our last cigarettes

It is not every day that the war can make dead bodies and we are not with them

Faleeha Hassan

Faleeha is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, playwriter born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, who now lives in the United States. Faleeha is the first woman to wrote poetry for children in Iraq.

She received her master’s degree in Arabic literature, and has now published 20 books. Her poems have been translated into English, Turkmen, Bosevih, Indian, French, Italian, German, Kurdish, Spain, Korean, Greek and Albanian. Ms. Hassan has received many awards in Iraq and throughout the Middle East for her poetry and short stories.

Faleeha Hassan has also had her poems and short stories published in a variety of American magazines such as: Philadelphia poets 22, Harbinger Asylum, Brooklyn Rail April2016, Screaming mamas, The Galway Review, Words Without Borders, TXTOBJX, Intranslation, SJ Magazine, Nondoc, Wordgathering, SCARLET LEAF REVIEW, Courier-Post, I am not a Silent Poet, Taos Journal, Inner Child Press, Atlantic City Press, SJ Magazine, The Guardian, Words Without Borders, Courier-Post, Life and Legends, Indiana Voice Journal, The Bees Are Dead, IWA, Poetry Soup, Poetry Adelaide Literary Magazine, Philly, The Fountain Magazine, DRYLAND, The Blue Mountain Review, Otoliths, Taos Journal of Poetry and Art, TXTOBJX, DODGING THE RAIN, Poetry Adelaide Literary Magazine, NonDoc Philly, American Poetry Review, The Fountain Magazine, Uljana Wolf, Arcs, Tiferet and Ice Cream Poetry Anthology, Dryland Los Angeles underground art &writing Magazine, Opa Anthology of contemporary, BACOPA  Literary Review, Better than Starbucks Magazine and Tweymatikh ZQH Magazine.  

email: [email protected]