"how to say" by Safia Elhillo

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend June 13, 2017   how to say   Safia Elhillo

in the divorce i separate to two piles                 books: english      love              songs: arabic my angers   my schooling    my long repeating name       english                      english     arabic   i am someone's daughter but i am american born        it shows in my            short memory my ahistoric glamour     my clumsy tongue when i forget the word for          [   ] in arabic   i sleep         unbroken dark hours on airplanes home           & dream i've        missed my connecting flight      i dream a new & fluent mouth full of gauzy swathes       of arabic   i dream my alternate selves               each with a face borrowed from              photographs of the girl who became my grandmother   brows & body rounded &                  cursive like arabic   but wake to the usual borderlands     i crowd shining slivers of english        to my mouth iris    crocus   inlet   heron         how dare i love a word without knowing      it in arabic   & what even is translation       is immigration        without irony                      safia means pure           all my life it's been true           even in my clouded              arabic            Copyright © 2017 Safia Elhillo. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem is the first time I've put down in writing the scary thought that I may no longer be fluent in Arabic, my first language and mother tongue. And while it is a space to mourn, it is a space to also take ownership of my hyphens, of the hybrid worlds and languages I live in. I chose the ghazal as its form for its ancientness and lineage, a reminder that I came from somewhere as I strike out into new worlds." —Safia Elhillo   Safia Elhillo is the author of The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017). She is a Cave Canem fellow of Sudanese origin and lives in Washington, DC. Poetry by Elhillo   The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017) "Arabic" by Naomi Shihab Nye "Nomenclatures of Invisibility" by Mahtem Shiferraw "We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born" by Oscar Gonzales Help Support Poem-a-Day   Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The series, which features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. 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.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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