Khaloud Al-Muttalibi

 

 

 

Iraq Gnaws at my Heart and Laughs

 

I am blind

I am mute

My screams scuttle to their holes

My thoughts are in the hands of brick-layers

In the slums of Baghdad

My breath is in London

Sold by Oxfam for a penny

In a city ghetto

I was my mother’s love

And my father’s

Yet you surpass yourselves

Designing a stadium of lavish pain

Every time the hurt thirsts and withers

You replant it, leafy and strong

I am not mad

I was not drunk when I saw the sky swallow her stars,

The postman scoffing his letters

Iraq gnaws at my heart and laughs

I am dead, dead, and this air is a false witness of my life

For I am not here, I am not there

Hang me from Big Ben’s hands

I am dead

I am dead

 

 

 

Khaloud Al-Muttalibi is a poet and translator. She is the author of eight books including A Void, Full Of You. She resides in the United Kingdom.

Much of her work has been translated into various languages including Russian, Punjabi and Romanian. Her poetry has been published in a vast array of worldwide literary magazines and journals, both in print and online. She has appeared in several books and anthologies.