my mother read my poem to me and it felt like a breeze the staccato of her english telling me I could breathe every syllable pushing every word a war on her tongue but she rested in the trenches & spent time with each one her voice rolled back in & she nodded in agreement with every line & i felt so many emotions within me rise & when the last word left her war torn mouth the tears forming behind my eyes left mine unspooling everything inside in the end all i had to give was on the page she called me an artist wondered why i’d never come to her why i’d never shown this to her i said the only poetry you ever read was written by God how could i fathom offering you these mortal words what i offer instead is eternal love & it forms in these letters, this is my offering, all I have is this poem.

Samah Serour Fadil

Afro-Palestinian writer, editor, and translator
Samah Fadil’s words explore indigenous feminisms and futurisms, featured in anthologies such as Beyond the Glittering World and Thyme Travellers. She served as content editor for the Black SWANA issue of Mizna, winner of the 2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. Her poem “prongs into the nation” won the Petty Propolis poetry contest and was featured in the Observed: Hypervisibility and Reclamation exhibit. Residing in Montréal, her work continues to interrogate themes of surveillance, safety, and the reclamation of narrative.