i'm told that depression is an american thing like owning a dog or talking about your feelings11/16/2017 by Jess Rizkallah khalas just drink some water, wear a hat, don’t forget to floss. have you ever seen a brain sprint across concrete, dropping all its teeth? brains have teeth, you know. they’re ground to sand while we sleep. we are hourglasses, top heavy every morning. all your blood still lives in your head. keep it that way. press your ear to the pillow. contain the steady marching soldier living in your head. it’s my fault he’s there. i thought if i could catch the body before it hit the ground, it wouldn’t break open. i won’t dissect the bullet sent to kill us. or the silence just before it tried. it’s enough to know it didn’t. do your homework. practice your arabic. marry a good man and if he is lazy thank God violence takes effort. baptize your children in the break of a wave opening at your feet. forgive your feet for every sleeping child they have stepped over. cross your head with ash. say ameen. ameen bring in your plants. don’t forget to lock the door. the lights passing by are just cars. (if not, then hold your breath) that’s why we came here (and how we left.) Jess Rizkallah is a Lebanese-American writer and illustrator living in New York. Alumna of Lesley University, MFA candidate at New York University, and founding editor at pizza pi press. Her full length collection THE MAGIC MY BODY BECOMES won the 2017 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize awarded by the Radius of Arab American Writers and is available from University of Arkansas Press. Find her at jessrizkallah.com.
1 Comment
Jad Yassine
11/17/2017 11:52:18 am
This is beautiful...
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