{"id":4433,"date":"2016-09-12T15:13:45","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T15:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=4433"},"modified":"2016-09-12T16:48:21","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T16:48:21","slug":"still-life-with-my-mothers-hijab-poem-safia-elhillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=4433","title":{"rendered":"“still life with my mother\u2019s hijab” & poem –Safia Elhillo"},"content":{"rendered":"

on a beach in france a veiled woman
\nis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in keeping with the law
\n 
\nstripped\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & expected to say thank you
\nfor freeing me\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the photograph
\n 
\ncircles a world that agrees it is time
\nto liberate these women those
\n 
\npeople\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you people\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so backwards
\nwith your cloth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your refugees & your
\n 
\nbombs\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 today i am at the mall with my mother
\n& she wears a hat instead\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to cover her hennaed hair
\n 
\nsmall reprieve from the eyes that soak themselves
\ndaily into her body\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 we see another woman at the food court
\n 
\nin the same scarfless hijab
\neach curl tucked carefully away
\n 
\nthe nape of her neck red & blinking
\nfrom its first day in the sun
\n <\/p>\n

\n

maghrib, new york city<\/strong>
\n 
\nthe day ends\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & i kneel crookedly in the half-
\nlight\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 wiping black kohl from my eyelids
\ni snake my hair to little braids\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 slick with oil
\n& more oil to kiss away the red caked onto my mouth
\ni gleam into the bathroom mirror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 cool water
\nin my hands\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 outside it is dark & i want to say his name
\n 
\na woman died to give me mine\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 without her what could i name
\nmyself\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 which do i know in all my half-
\nlanguages\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my parallel life lived back across the water
\nhe too was this way\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 world broken by oceans an island
\nremapped\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the quiet parts where language fails in the mouth
\ni was a darkness in his bed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sunless shining like oil
\n 
\nforgive the way i know the world to be\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 broken by oceans & oil
\nforgive the way i crowd my quieter hurts & give them all his name
\nhe\u2019d go silent gathering smoke\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 burning village in his mouth
\nwhat sort of country could we have been\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 combining our half-
\nhomes our shared forgetting\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a life spent mostly behind eyelids
\n(the plants he brought would die\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it was dark\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i would drink all the water)
\n 
\n& what of the illness we didn\u2019t share\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the blood thin as water
\nsliding around inside my body\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i lived alone in fever\u2019s sweat & oil
\nturning the bedsheets a blacker blue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my better selves pressed against my eyelids
\n& waited their turn to love him\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 practiced the smoke taste of his name
\nhe wasn\u2019t mine & i belonged\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 only to my silence\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to my half-
\nsleep\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i wake in the dark craving fruit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 taut skin pressed to my cracked mouth
\n 
\nif i wake a different girl\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 would he know me by my mouth
\nor at all\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 would he learn my new body\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 alive like boiling water
\nthe loud & fluent language that in my dreams i always have
\ni\u2019d make a new heart\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 fresh in butcher paper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 fried in onions & bright oil
\n& what if i had a country\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 then what would be my name
\n(& the plants would stay alive\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the spearmint\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the violets)
\n 
\n 
\n\"safia-enhillo-headshot-nn-by-ahmed-aladdin-abushakeema-img_1152\"Safia Elhillo\u2019s first full-length collection, The January Children<\/em>, is forthcoming from University of Nebraska Press in 2017. Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, a Cave Canem fellow and poetry editor at Kinfolks Quarterly: a journal of black expression, she received an MFA in poetry at the New School. Safia is a Pushcart Prize nominee, co-winner of the 2015 Brunel University African Poetry Prize, and winner of the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. In addition to appearing in several journals and anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop,<\/em>\u00a0her work has been translated into Arabic and Greek.<\/p>\n

(Photo Credit:\u00a0Ahmed Aladdin Abushakeema)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

on a beach in france a veiled woman is\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in keeping with the law   stripped\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & expected to say thank you for freeing me\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the photograph   circles a world that agrees it is time to liberate these women those   people\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you people\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so backwards with your cloth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your refugees & your   bombs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[231,149],"class_list":["post-4433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-hijibi-in-front-of-cairo-mosque-nick-leonard","tag-wikicommons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4433"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4516,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433\/revisions\/4516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}