By Nihal Mubarak
I know my tongue well spent years training it though sometimes it bends
to its own will sometimes my tongue betrays me clings to many histories
In the airport the woman at the counter says have a safe flight I want to say
thank you but insha’Allah tumbles out instead My tongue is strong resilient
holds onto Arabic its first love before English was a colonizing force before
the muscle atrophied became withered ugly twisting to make room
for consonants when it favored vowels & guttural heavy sounds My tongue
refuses to forget pulls from a word bank belonging to my ancestors copies my
mother and forms the sounds for words I can’t use
mouth or borderland?
no barbed wire fences here
just a sharp tongue, stiff
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