When the Grandmother Dies by Fady Joudah it'll be kept secret from her four daughters
who'll be flying in from three different countries
after years of absence reunion ends When the grandmother dies
it'll ruin summertime for the grandkids who
in their mothers' grief will eat okra each day
fresh & leftover till it tastes like ash When the grandmother dies
the groundskeeper will beg for cash he comforts her he'll say
& the sisters will reply
Were it not for you the dead would have died |
|
Copyright © 2013 by Fady Joudah. Used with permission of the author. |
About this Poem: "This poem was composed on a cellphone text message. Each section is exactly 160 characters long according to text message parameters. The poem is part of a book-long thread, titled Textu, forthcoming from Copper Canyon press in e-format, in which all the poems were composed as text messages of exactly 160 characters long."
Fady Joudah |
Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment