American Muslim chilren
Hey Ayat, we were an odd
couple, haunting the library
for magical books,
deciding how and where
we wanted to work…
Our symbiosis
Your linguistic ticket to
4th grade status—
and my meal ticket
Hey Aayat, forget that
you worked hard
raising your reading
from 1.4
to 4.
Forget how
You sweated in your
Hijab,Cali sun streaming
through the hallway where we worked
Your seat wet with sweat
when I insisted you break for water.
Forget how my eyes welled up when…
When you read the word “chlorophyll”
with
a li’l Arabic seasoning.
Forget our enchanted
moment, our turning point,
finding a book
on your birthplace, your
religion
Hey Ayat, I apologize—
It’s America first and
American Heroes must
Kill
Kids like you in Yemen—
But, “God will sort it out…”
When they get to Heaven.
And one day you’ll understand
Why
American heroes kill for pipe-
lines…
© 2016. Raymond Nat Turner,The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist and educator, and an official in the National Writers Union.
Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com
CODEPINK is collaborating with the International Women’s Network for Democracy and Peace, which works for peace and democracy in Africa, on a webinar on Rwanda, Congo, and the case of Rwandan…
"DUI Hire" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
Drawing on a history of resistance, Afro-Venezuelan organizations are mobilizing their communities to meet the threat of military action by the Trump administration and calling on the people of the U…
The legal framework for Trump’s war on Venezuela was built by his predecessor, Barack Obama. His remote-control assassinations set a precedent that Trump adopted and escalated.
A leaked FBI memo confirms the bureau's goal is the criminalization of leftist political activity.
