Hind Shoufani
Daily Bread
Daily Bread
I thought to write a dirty poem
one about fucking and sucking
and lips pouted
licking
cigarette butts left in ashtrays flowing
about the grit edged into our teeth
grinding TV screens that
enlarge year after year to devour
us with all the porno sacred
I thought to write about the harsh
words we dismiss
the bitter words
we utter
the basic daily bitching
we mutter
I thought to remove all splendor
to strip my thoughts brutal
I thought to describe fast food containers after our sleepless night
I thought to show you the bruises I gathered in the restless morn
I thought to write about bombs
and limbs bleeding
and eye sockets gouged
and entire nations massacred
I thought to write in words that do not rhyme
that have no flow
words that reek like scum
words about what we have become
you, enslaved by your cocks
us, enslaved by history
by the goddamn army checkpoints
and the barbed wire streets
the machine gun blocks
Arab students dumping art for rocks
burning tires to inhale black death
like your eyes
I thought to write a dirty poem
like your heart
like many others I can name
like the ones who rule this jungle
we call home
my breath to them money whoring
my smile a mere game
I thought to write about hate
and children dying as we speak
I thought
and thought
I thought through the whole violent day
there is nothing to say
your eyelashes are curved long on your cheek
you sleep
it is silent
and I love you.
