Arts
Poet Explores Effect of a Nation's Sudden Change
By Nathalie Handal
WeNews guest author
Sunday, July 24, 2011
In The Thing about Feathers, Arab-American poet and playwright Nathalie Handal invokes the powerful emotions of those who flee their homelands. An excerpt from her upcoming book "Poet in Andalucia."
(WOMENSENEWS)--We kept only the keys,
letters, and photos--
everything else stayed behind
when we left the house.
That can happen when
a nation changes overnight,
when those you know
turn into
a gate of feathers--
and the thing about feathers is,
they know what's been missed.
For years I watch
my neighbor's house
from others' windows--
different countries,
various homes,
some of brick, some of stone.
Some never imagine
what a home can mean
when an unfinished tune
traps the ceiling.
I pretend
never to have
seen a body midair,
a father's hands
planted on the ground--
after all
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