Dear body
Don’t be afraid
You will soon know
the salts of the Mediterranean
the real sharp of olives
with kin and the suitcases
home of paraphernalia
You will come home
You are home
You are rivers
of story and knowing
You carry
every heartbeat of resistance
entangled in the grapevines you hold dear
You are breath
Let your eyes close
Tilt your face up towards
the warm pour
of shimmer through branches
Remember the rainbow shield
your femme mentor taught you
Remember to stay
porous soft malleable
You are forever in flux
You embody groundedness and redefinition
You will find balance
You will invite change
You will find balance
You will invite change
Sea drags my name out of me
Sea drags my name out of me
and beads of salt water float on my belly
My body needs no reminder
of staying arched and poised
I am weightless in my perfect
diaspora. I feel the sun
hold me, caress me, welcome
me and I am suspended in time
in this sweet embrace
Kiss my skin
peel shed wash up foam
Ancient bones soaked
they drip slick marinate
All I see is shine and love
My hair floats free
rich deep brown
Miles of water
in celebration with you
Taste bliss me wilder
Salt rinse mouthwashclean
this stench this colonial
tongue. The salty bitter swish
is my calling song
When we finally eat zaitoun together
khubz arabi
labneh
I open wide
I breathe easy
And sea knows my name
Before I tell her
Sea in abundance
and radiant memory
Encapsulates all that I am
Where I am safe and
free and home again
Here
we rest pure
Christina Hajjar 