Two Poems
by Nada Faris
Marshmallow In a Bottle
When holding each other’s hands to recite incantations,
remember sugar does not turn itself on.
Conventionally known as the stabbing
of straws into foamy Ice Blendeds. One should always say yes
when nearing the credits for every sun
will keep on counting down days left for us to grieve.
The dead grandmothers’ yards also declare
their seven afterlives. I confessed
I was a penguin in one of them,
you said you needed more time. Together
we can lift every lid with bare fingers,
but what if no one cheers on our mastery of existence?
Will we twist them back on?
I keep asking
what is longing when the object of desire
is the subject of missing? Your stomach
maybe rising softly and falling underneath the purple mermaid
blanket I bought you for Hannukah—my single gift.
Now that winter is knocking on windows,
I wonder if you won’t talk to me still?
Stars in the sky glow in the shape of a flaming chariot.
I raise my marshmallow high and wait.
Aubade
If you are not a pessimist,
show me your finger (the one you feared
would “catch gangrene” in the blizzard),
so I can tell you I feel your hands
were made to rebuild supernal palaces.
With beacon-bright excitement and soft fire clay, play.
Your mother bore you in order
not to take life so seriously.
There are formations of fireworks
only you know
how to launch in laughter.
Desire is always-already falling
victim to the turnings of a golden wheel.
In the morning: becoming animal.
At night: acolyte, and I am not
ready to let go
until I learn
how to spread
all curtains open
and fill us up with sun.
Nada Faris is a writer, teaching-artist, and performance poet based in Kuwait. She is an author of three international books, an Honorary Fellow in Writing at Iowa University’s International Writing Program (IWP) Fall 2013, and an alumna of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) April 2018, USA: Empowering Youth Through the Performing Arts. Faris is the recipient of an Arab Woman Award from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia 2018 in the category of Inspirational Woman for her impact on Kuwait’s creative sector. She has earned an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry and translation from Columbia University.
