ll always be grateful to Helena Nelson, my first editor, for having faith in my work when I didn’t.
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
Granta for their support – especially to Eleanor Chandler for her owl-eyed suggestions.
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
This book arose out of innumerable conversations and encounters. There are some people named in the poems (some names have been changed), but many others float lovingly in the background. I hope they know who they are and what they mean to me.
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
These poems are spoken in memory of those who can’t hear them: Tjandra Sari, aka Mak (1931–2018) Swadaya Sitiabudi (1923–1979) John P. Harris (1923–2003) Emy van der Spek (1929–2002)
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
and I asked if everything was OK. Yes, everything’s OK, you said, suddenly embarrassed, but wait, why am I telling you this
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
and need a voice capacious enough to be both me and not-me,
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
I reject the possibility of narrating any life other than my own
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
I feel it still. But not with guilt. Reverberating in me. My rickety city.
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
My freight train. My empty din.
Menna Abu Zahraalıntı yaptı2 yıl önce
No jokes today please. See me slumped against the door. Up to my knees.