{"id":2557,"date":"2018-02-07T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T05:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2557"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:40","slug":"feb-7-two-poets-one-muslimone-chaldean-catholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/02\/07\/feb-7-two-poets-one-muslimone-chaldean-catholic\/","title":{"rendered":"feb 7 – two poets — one Muslim,\tone Chaldean Catholic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, February 7 \u00a0–<\/p>\n

Dunya Mikhail
\n\u201cYesterday, I lost a country\u201d<\/p>\n

Warsan Shire
\n\u201cdear god
\ni come from two countries
\none is thirsty
\nthe other is on fire
\nboth need water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harsh news these past days brought to mind how much of my city I share with a large Muslim community and a large Chaldean community. \u00a0I\u2019ve posted poems from both of these places in my home culture, including from these two poets. \u00a0One, Dunya Mikhail, I posted last December; the other, Warsan Shire, I posted the morning after the November 2016 election in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Two poems breaks my ordinary rule for these posts. \u00a0You may want to spread their wisdom across this first week of February, the eve of Mardi Gras, the dawn of Lent. \u00a0 Best to read each out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day.<\/p>\n

Blessings.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post # 1:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI Was in a Hurry\u201d \u00a0– \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Dunya Mikhail<\/p>\n

Yesterday I lost a country.
\nI was in a hurry,
\nand didn\u2019t notice when it fell from me
\nlike a broken branch from a forgetful tree.<\/p>\n

Please, if anyone passes by
\nand stumbles across it,
\nperhaps in a suitcase
\nopen to the sky,
\nor engraved on a rock
\nlike a gaping wound,
\nor wrapped
\nin the blankets of emigrants,
\nor canceled
\nlike a losing lottery ticket,
\nor helplessly forgotten
\nin Purgatory,
\nor rushing forward without a goal
\nlike the questions of children,
\nor rising with the smoke of war,
\nor rolling in a helmet on the sand,
\nor stolen in Ali Baba\u2019s jar,
\nor disguised in the uniform of a policeman
\nwho stirred up the prisoners
\nand fled,
\nor squatting in the mind of a woman
\nwho tries to smile,
\nor scattered like the dreams
\nof new immigrants in America.<\/p>\n

If anyone stumbles across it,
\nreturn it to me, please.
\nPlease return it, sir.
\nPlease return it, madam.
\nIt is my country\u2026
\nI was in a hurry
\nwhen I lost it yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Was in a Hurry\u201d by Dunya Mikhail, translated by\u00a0Elizabeth Winslow, from\u00a0The War Works Hard<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1965 – Baghdad, Iraq \u2013 lives in metro Detroit<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post # 2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cwhat they did yesterday afternoon\u201d<\/p>\n

they set my aunts house on fire
\ni cried the way women on tv do
\nfolding at the middle
\nlike a five pound note.
\ni called the boy who use to love me
\ntried to \u2018okay\u2019 my voice
\ni said\u00a0hello
\nhe said\u00a0warsan, what\u2019s wrong, what\u2019s happened?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

i\u2019ve been praying,
\nand these are what my prayers look like;
\ndear god
\ni come from two countries
\none is thirsty
\nthe other is on fire
\nboth need water.<\/p>\n

later that night<\/p>\n

i held an atlas in my lap
\nran my fingers across the whole world
\nand whispered
\nwhere does it hurt?<\/p>\n

it answered
\neverywhere
\neverywhere
\neverywhere.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1988 – Born in Kenya to Somali parents<\/p>\n

Warsan Shire<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/09\/30\/sept-30-where-does-it-hurt-warsan-shire\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, February 7 \u00a0– Dunya Mikhail \u201cYesterday, I lost a country\u201d Warsan Shire \u201cdear god i come from two countries one is thirsty the other is on fire both need water.\u201d Harsh news these past days brought to mind how … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3128,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557\/revisions\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}