Water & Salt
4/5
()
About this ebook
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha is an American poet of Palestinian, Jordanian and Syrian heritage. Her poems have been published in American and international journals including Blackbird, The Boiler, Borderlands Texas Review, The Indianola Review, James Franco Review, The Lake for Poetry, Lunch Ticket, Mizna, The Ofi Press Mexico, Sukoon, and the Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art. Several of her poems have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, “Immigrant” in 2015 and for “Middle Village” and “Ruin” in 2016. She is an MFA candidate at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Redmond, Washington, with her family.
Related to Water & Salt
Related ebooks
Kaan and Her Sisters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flag of Childhood: Poems From the Middle East Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman from Tantoura: A Novel from Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lineage of Rain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waterbaby Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Water Has Perfect Memory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirls Are Coming Out of the Woods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can Be the Last Leaf: Selected Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Muneera and the Moon: Stories Inspired by Palestinian Folklore Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rifqa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hikayat: Short Stories by Lebanese Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the Haboob Sings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPapercuts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThings You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Wake of the Poetic: Palestinian Artists After Darwish Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy First and Only Love: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sea-Migrations: Tahriib Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Turtle Island to Gaza Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Dreaming of Baghdad Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Return: A Palestinian Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tethered to Stars: Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Occupation Diaries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun and Her Flowers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Forward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Collection of Poems by Robert Frost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Water & Salt
6 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Water & Salt - Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
I
YOU WILL NEED TO STATE THE REASON FOR YOUR VISIT
UPON ARRIVAL
You will need to state the reason for your visit.
Don’t say because I want to walk down old roads
and caress stone walls the color of my skin.
You will need to state the reason for your visit.
Don’t say because the olives are ready for harvest
and I will coax the fruit from the trees,
press it into liquid gold.
You will need to state the reason for your visit.
Don’t say because my parents’ house
still sits empty on a bluff overlooking the sea,
the green shutters my grandfather had just painted
remain sealed shut
and the army listed the property’s owners
as absentees.
You will need to state the reason for your visit.
Don’t say because I am carrying prayers in my suitcase
for a people who wait,
and I’ll unfold them
embroidered linens of verse
and spread them out across the land.
GRANDMOTHERING
In memory of SFK
Tin bowl
warm water
wide-tooth comb
red ribbons
Your hands
weave moisture
into stubborn, parched curls
again and
again
tucking prayers
in whispers near my ears
humming love
patiently
Strumming
like oud strings
familiar song
into thick, brown strands
ya teyteh ya habibti
Tying each braid
with a delicate bow
holding my chin up with your
warm hands
smiling again
at a young girl
in red ribbons
TIME TRAVEL
We travel back so that you
will know who we were and who
you might have been if you
had lived here too.
We travel back so that you
can become who you are.
We travel back not to
because even now
after we’ve lived longer
here than anywhere else
we still think of this place
as new, as a destination,
a motion forward
out of the womb
or darkness or the arms of
love. We travel