My Name on His Tongue: Poems

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments xi you can be a tourist at home how a tour guide in Petra reminded me of all I’ve lost (or never had to begin with) 3 no matter how much zaatar you eat you still gotta work to be an Arab/writer/woman the journey 9 grandfathers 18 di dove sei? 20 home 23 browner shades of White 26 Air Force visitors 28 on going to the movies with a Jewish friend 30 silhouette of two women drinking coffee 33 letter to my brother 34 là où Dieu nous plante il faut savoir fleurir exile 39 a call to Irbid 40 freedom fighter 41 identity card 43 one day in upstate New York 45 handfuls of wind 46 good morning 48 cheating 50 a moonlit visit 52 love thing 56 in the pockets of my dresses 58 your country 59 February 61 motherhood 63 home, again 65 final video snapshots on the way to the airport 66 home (one last time) 72 eid 73 yesterday 75 after a reading by Khaled Mattawa 77 colors 81 my grandma and your grandma were sittin’ by the fire . . . letter to an Israeli soldier 85 refugee 90 August 16, 1990 91 a day at the park a few days Before 92 penmanship 95 rage 97 demonstrators 101 intentions 103 refugee (of love) 106 short video clip: Baghdad tattoo 109 taking a moment to thank our sponsors 110 could be Beirut 112 a warning to all Arabs traveling back to the United States: TSA officials are now employing Israeli security tactics at the Newark airport 117 strange men in my house 121 homeland security 125 an open letter to president-elect Barack Obama regarding the situation in Gaza 128 ...