Bisan,
your cat came to me in my dream.
White, yet not entirely - she was real -
not as a cloud, she was eating lime.
Yes, I was holding a round green lime
in my hand and she stole it to play.
Cats love to play, don’t they?
I say this as one who has never owned a cat
or even, I confess, known or loved a cat.
But this cat, your cat, I presume -
although she was perhaps any
of the lost cats doomed this Nakba -
this cat, I say, knew me well enough
this cat, I say, knew me well enough
to drape herself, Queen like, across
my throat, as I was lying down in my bed -
not the bed of my English home,
not the bed of my English home,
in the country that questions me on home,
but the home of my dreams,
but the home of my dreams,
the bed in my dreams,
where I grew from baby to girl,
to on the verge of something between
girl and woman to be.
Protecting my throat, but also
Protecting my throat, but also
preventing me from moving, rising,
perhaps even speaking -
she was everything,
commanding the wholeness of me.
I feel her now - a heavy white scarf,
I feel her now - a heavy white scarf,
a sacred promise, bound to me,
as I to her - a symbol
beyond my understanding.
Ya Rahman. Ya Raheem.
Ameen.
© Shaista Tayabali, 2023
Is anyone able to write much, if anything, at this time? This poem came, as my poems come, fast, as if in dictation, from a place of necessity, to tell someone something in the only way available to me. Part of me feels as if there has never been a genocide experienced this way - in the palms of our hands, in real time. And yet, the power of reading the testimonies of Primo Levi and Victor E. Frankl, not to ever forget Anne Frank, many years after the facts, did not render my heart any less broken. I say broken, but it is not yet so. Just chipped, cracked, rust filled, despairing of being human. This poem is dedicated to one of several young Gaza journalists I follow, like millions do, on Instagram, hoping, willing her to survive. She is Bisan Owda @wizard_bisan1, and the others are Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza, Plestia Alaqad @byplestia, Yara Eid @eid_yara. Others have been killed already. I inch forward in this mural, baring my teeth through tears.
Second is a mural I am working on at home
Poem participating in DVerse Poems Open Link night)
10 comments:
This is an amazing poem. A strong symbolism with the white cat lying across your throat. A nice dedication to the journalist in Gaza. It is horrific what is happening and I do hope there is an end soon.
I liked the idea of the cat protecting you. At least something peaceful and courageous in a dream when the world seems to be full of hate and cowardice.
A very powerful poem--that cat as a white scarf, a symbol and promise.
We had a real white cat who loved to play. He would have batted a lime around the kitchen floor, if he had a chance.
This is absolutely stunning. I really have no words except stunning. I went down and read the explanation of the post first...and thus your poetic words had all the more meaning. Thank you for posting.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem. What startling sensory images you portray. I too share your sentiments and feel very heavy-hearted about the current genocide. As a result, I find it very hard to write any kind of whimsy at the moment <3
I do love poems with cats in and this one is a beauty. I love the way she draped herself, Queen like, across your throat, just like my cat Mojo does.
“Is anyone able to write much, if anything, at this time?”
Journalists, poets, anyone who writes, I think (as you stated) does so out of necessity. Whatever that necessity be. To record something of the time, to bring life to people’s stories (the true ones), which is especially necessary in times like these. I love your poem and the symbolism of the white cat.
A poem that expresses the heartbreak I am feeling, on top of the heartbreak I already carried at how off the rails this world has gotten. I am having trouble finding any words.....a vast quietness lives in me. Outrage turning to defeatism, almost, an optimnist having trouble holding onto hope for humankind. (When did we lose the "kind" in humankind?) As always, you express it so beautifully. Sigh. Your beautiful poem lives in my heart.
p.s. Have you sent her your poem? Because she would love it.
Thia is an amazing poem, the dream cat symbolizing in my mind both comfort and capture.
Post a Comment
Click to leave a comment