"Try to make it to the morning. Try to find your heart in the newsprint."

THE INTERVIEWER WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT FASHION by Hala Alyan

Oct 07, 2024

THE INTERVIEWER WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT FASHION “They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.” —Ayelet Shaked Think of all the calla lilies. Think of all the words that rhyme with calla. Isn’t it a miracle that they come back? The flowers. The dead. I watch a woman bury her child. How? I lost a fetus and couldn’t eat breakfast for a week. I watch a woman and the watching is a crime, so I return my eyes. The sea foams like a dog. What’s five thousand miles between friends? If you listen close enough, you can hear the earth crack like a neck. Be lucky. Try to make it to the morning. Try to find your heart in the newsprint. Please. I’d rather be alive than holy. I don’t have time to write about the soul. There are bodies to count. The news anchor says oopsie. The Prime Minister says thanks. There’s a man wearing his wedding tuxedo to sleep in case I meet God and there’s a brick of light before each bombing. I dream I am a snake after all. I dream I do Jerusalem all over again. This time, I don’t shake my hair down when the soldier tells me to. I don’t thank them for my passport. Later my grandfather said they couldn’t have kept it. You know that, don’t you? I don’t know what they couldn’t do. I only know that enormous light. Only that roar of nothing, as certain and incorrect as a sermon. — I sourced this poem from Lit Hub, and the cover image from here.

Recently, I started a graduate program which means I don’t have much time for writing outside of my weekly assignments. But I’m still craving to maintain this newsletter/blog, so I’m trying out a new thing: sharing poems I love. Expect them in your inbox every Monday. If they move you, tell me why either in the comments or via email. I might also share other things I’ve been enjoying lately. Like this new song by FKA Twigs and this essay by Arielle Angel for Jewish Currents (written last year but still relevant today).

This idea was inspired by two of my favorite poetry newsletters: Pome (which is maybe defunct now sadly) and Sonia’s Poem of the Week (which is still running and deserves a follow!) Sonia, who is a lovely writer herself, also has a novel coming out soon, so stay tuned for that.

See you next Monday,

Loré

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