The Moon
POETRY FORMAT, 15 Apr 2024
Mosab Abu Toha – TRANSCEND Media Service
Her small belly, her chest,
her forehead, her hands,
her cold feet bare in the night.
A hungry cat paces.
Shrapnel rings
as it hits neighboring
houses already bombed.
The cat grows hungrier.
The cat sees the girl,
her wounds still warm.
Hungrier.
The girl’s father lies next to her
on his back. The backpack he wears
still has the girl’s favorite candy
and a small toy.
The girl was waiting
till they arrived
to eat her lollipop.
The cat gets close
to try the flesh;
a bomb pounds the street.
No flesh, no girl,
no father, no cat.
Nobody is hungry.
The moon overhead
is not the moon.
__________________________________
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, scholar and librarian from the Gaza Strip. His debut book of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear won the Palestine Book Award and an American Book Award. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Walcott Poetry Prize.
Tags: Gaza, Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 15 Apr 2024.
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