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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: MATTAWA, KHALED Matches Found: 59 Mattawa, Khaled Poet's Biography 59 poems available by this author AIRPORTER First Line: Yardley, pennsylvania an expensive dump Last Line: Holding your face in her bag hands ARRIVING AT PIER HOUSE HOTEL First Line: Like the rest of us Last Line: Some prayed, some vomited %from the smell of our dead, %and some took photographs ATTA First Line: Midnight, and she holding the radio Last Line: Her precious bulbul begins to sing BEDTIME READING FOR THE UNBORN CHILD Poem Text First Line: Long after the sun falls into the sea Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Coming Of Age; Mythology BEFORE First Line: Somewhere between faith and grace there is the footprint of logic lost in the Last Line: Repeat after me. A nigerian song fills your town, fills the between with a billion %befores. BORROWED TONGUE Poem Text First Line: Maybe I'm a fool Subject(s): Arabic Language BRIGHT YELLOW, KETCHUP RED First Line: I was crossing a street Last Line: Kneeling the wide skirts of hope CRANK CALL FROM TABRIZ First Line: All day short of nails Last Line: Maybe a lizard will die at your door CRICKET MOUNTAIN First Line: The bridge under our wheels moaned, some said, because it was built in a time Last Line: And what was that city that tangled us in its muddy streets? DAMASCENE THEORY First Line: Away from water Last Line: That blossoms into an attitude DAYS OF 1933 First Line: A man walks down a street and sees a young woman. He turns Last Line: Everyday a young woman boards a train and is never seen again DOUBLE PORTRAIT WITH TRAINS Poem Text First Line: The morning a promise Subject(s): Railways; Travel; Egypt; Journeys; Trips EAST OF CARTHAGE: AN IDYLL Poem Text First Line: Look here, marcus aurelius, we’ve come to see Last Line: Ts tentacles sewing a rupture I had nursed for too long Subject(s): Coming Of Age; Middle Age; Aging; Libya; Ancestors & Ancestry; Family Life; Mythology; Heritage; Heredity; Relatives ECHO & ELIXIR First Line: She was our neighbor, the diabetic woman who kept having children Last Line: The diabetic woman who kept having children ECHO & ELIXIR 2 Poem Text First Line: Cairo’s taxi drivers speak to me in english Last Line: The wicked binds, the cataclysmic fares Subject(s): Language; Cairo; Taxis; Relationships; Social Commentaries; Enemies; Words; Vocabulary EMERSON REVISITATION First Line: Tired of fighting death with progress Last Line: That names the nothingness FIFTY APRIL YEARS Poem Text First Line: A soldier waved our bus Subject(s): Time; Politics & Government FOR AL-TAYIB SALIH Poem Text First Line: I come here to retrieve a shoe Subject(s): Moors (people); Ancestors & Ancestry; Shoes; Love; Spain; Heritage; Heredity; Boots; Sneakers; Shoemakers FOR AL-TAYID SALIH First Line: I come here to retrieve a shoe Last Line: The gaurd says he has waited a long time for this %and starts to pour dirt over my body FOR YEARS I'VE BEEN PROHIBITED FROM MENTIONING THE MOON Poem Text First Line: So now the pine-scented moon Subject(s): Moon FROM ECHOES & ELIXIRS: 1 First Line: It shines through clouds and rain Last Line: It shines the windows with your passing gaze FROM ECHOES & ELIXIRS: 11 First Line: It is not the land or the people Last Line: And leave us both aghast FROM ECHOES & ELIXIRS: 3 First Line: Maybe love is a walk to astonishment Last Line: Hear me say it, habibti. %I say: n'hibik FROM ECHOES & ELIXIRS: 7 First Line: Cigarettes in the bar, a beer Last Line: You are a citizen of its taste GENEALOGY OF FIRE Poem Text First Line: My sister held an old piece of bread Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Arabs; Family Life; Heritage; Heredity; Relatives GENEALOGY OF FIRE First Line: My sister held an old piece of bread Last Line: How will I %ever be consoled GLORIOUS YEMEN RESTAURANT GROWING UP WITH A SEARS CATALOG IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA Poem Text First Line: Omar pointed to a pink man Subject(s): Lust; Conduct Of Life; New Orleans GROWING UP WITH A SEARS CATALOG IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA First Line: Omar pointed to a picture of a pink man Last Line: Would you like planted next to your grave? HEARTSONG First Line: A bird sings from the tree. The birds sing Last Line: Within the pain of words HISTORY OF MY FACE Poem Text First Line: My lips came with a caravan of slaves Subject(s): Libya; Faces; Ancestors & Ancestry; Heritage; Heredity HISTORY OF MY FACE First Line: My lips came with a caravan of slaves Last Line: She made his breakfast %and bore four of his children IN THE COLD SEASON Poem Text First Line: For now the mullahs Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Home IN THE GLORIOUS YEMEN RESTAURANT Poem Text First Line: 25 on atlantic avenue, faces kneaded Subject(s): Restaurants; Immigrants; Arab Americans; Cafes; Diners; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration IN THE SHOWER ROOM First Line: We were in the shower room Last Line: To a world that prohibited %the wish to be reborn ISMAILIA First Line: I no longer have to choose between Last Line: In many tongues, refusing to grieve LET US BELIEVE AGAIN First Line: For now, the mullahs Last Line: There's no one else I'd rather see LETTER TO IBRAHIM Poem Text First Line: You remember the joke, right? Subject(s): Conduct Of Life LETTER TO IBRAHIM First Line: You remember the joke, right Last Line: Under their magnificent roofs LUCINDA AT ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, GENEVA First Line: One listening to a walkman, the other Last Line: Galloping to the world of new skin MR. SIGNAL MOUNTAIN Last Line: I was there. %I was a highway at the time PRETENSIONS First Line: This is the story of the currant Last Line: And whispered: I am the devil's godfather. %here, here, come feel my tail PYRAMID OF KHUFU First Line: With each step upward Last Line: Nibbling on pumpkin seeds RAIN SONG Poem Text First Line: The radio blares “dialogue of souls Last Line: Those who despair Subject(s): Rain; Despair; Youth; Family Life; Coming Of Age; Relatives RAMADAN Poem Text First Line: My mother forgets to feed Subject(s): Ramadan RAMADAN First Line: My mother forgets to feed Last Line: He runs to one of his two wives, %both named salma, and loves on hurriedly, %his hands barely touchi Subject(s): Ramadan SAMOVAR LOVE COMPONENT Poem Text First Line: I love the word samovar, and I love Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary SANIYA'S DREAMS Poem Text First Line: The year I shared a room with her Subject(s): Sisters SANIYA'S DREAMS First Line: In the year I shared a room with her, I would ask my sister Last Line: My job is selling flowers to strangers and at night I dance with %women who cannot pronounce my name SUMMERTIME CAVATINAS Poem Text First Line: The general's wife came Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives THE BLOOMINGFOODS PROMISE Poem Text First Line: For the ugly man who buys bell peppers Subject(s): Food & Eating; Social Commentaries THE BUS DRIVER POEM Poem Text First Line: I wasn't driving THE PYRAMID OF KHUFU Poem Text First Line: With each step upward Subject(s): Great Pyramid Of Giza THREE KITCHENS Poem Text First Line: I pace a friend's house. On the walls, Subject(s): Kitchens; Family Life; Relatives TRUTH First Line: Long ago I learned that the truth was further Last Line: Drifting to the sewer, drifting to the sea TWO-RIVER LEDGER Poem Text First Line: Joke used to be: / if you don't like it Subject(s): Rivers; Pollution; Houses; Family Life; Relatives WATERMELON TALES First Line: January, snow. For days I have craved Last Line: The rest of his day in bed. WHAT SHE SAID ON A LEWD LUTE NIGHT Poem Text First Line: So I go to ashenda Subject(s): Conduct Of Life WHITE NILE ELEGY First Line: Summer, and a woman lowers her jug to the river. She bathes and sings the Last Line: And - it's true - I waited to see who would buy the other half |
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