{"id":2763,"date":"2018-09-28T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2763"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:14","slug":"sept-29-longing-for-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/09\/28\/sept-29-longing-for-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 29 – Longing for Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 29, 2018\u2013 two poets \u2014 one Muslim, one Chaldean Catholic<\/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

Like many people I know around the U.S., \u00a0I was mesmerized yesterday by the outpouring of stories, more often by women, often too by men, often told for the first time, of their abuse and the terror they have carried for many years. \u00a0Over the decades of my adult years, \u00a0 friends and sometimes \u00a0women and men new to me risked telling me of wounds that needed a listener who would not use them as property. \u00a0Dr. Ford moved me deeply by risking her storytelling to a world of hearers. \u00a0This morning, the time I try to imagine what poem wants me to notice it and send it to the \u201cWork Day, Hard Time\u201d reader list, two poets came to mind. \u00a0Both have learned the wounds of the world as immigrant women. As I learn to make a home for Dr. Ford\u2019s stories, it helps me to read Dunya Mikhail and Warsan Shire again, slowly and aloud.<\/p>\n

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

John sj<\/p>\n

p.s. Today our university begins Homecoming weekend. \u00a0 Our presence in Detroit, a city of great beauty and many wounds has made a home for me for 37 years. I am looking forward to seeing alums and listening to some of their stories too.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post # 1:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI Was in a Hurry\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0\u2013 \u00a0\u00a0\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 \u2013 Baghdad, Iraq \u2013 lives in metro Detroit<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post # 2\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cwhat they did yesterday afternoon\u201d<\/strong><\/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 \u2013 Born in Kenya to Somali parents<\/p>\n

Warsan Shire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 29, 2018\u2013 two poets \u2014 one Muslim, one Chaldean Catholic 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 Like many … 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\/2763"}],"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=2763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2766,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2763\/revisions\/2766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}