by Jazra Khaleed
translated from the Greek by Jason Rigas
10.
now you’re tweeting the coast guard’s sinking ships + elytis your aegean stinks like greece
a neverending tragedy in
o amaranth sea I yearn to hear your whispers
how many dead bodies get you the nobel
news: turks insist that coast guard attempting to divert migrants in the aegean
replying to @primeministergr let’s not forget how many people drowned in the aegean because of when you said that there are no borders at sea not to mention how many people got stuck here even though they wanted to get to europe
basking in the locals’ genuine hospitality
frontex documents confirm what refugees have long since claimed: the coast guard fired at boats carrying #refugeesgr
if we just let a bunch of sharks loose in the aegean they’d sink their boats for sure
die maggots die
the local hospitality and the breathtaking scenery are what memories are made of
if there’s love in your heart you can only give love #refugeesgr
that’s a good way to die
where love stops her ships
this shard of the story will never be told
11.
“highly decorated” water pigs impale refugee boat (vid)
they shout “you’re fucked, hands up”
not to worry, they’re burning people not flags #refugeesgr
no one to blame but the syrians stuffing babies in boats so that they
they attempt to cross the aegean, hoping to reach the european union
they love water sports, sailing, yachting, cruises
if you did an online poll with the question “should we sink these boats” you’d get a 90% yes response
that ye love one another lest they be thy poor immigrant neighbours #chios #refugeesgr
women will have to bury children and support themselves through grief
where love stops her ships
battling enormous waves all morning having lost their bearings
a sight no human being can take
a story older than water
the word fuck hissed as if shock was new to this body
my silence is too high a price to pay
12.
shameful display in mytilene: vandalized memorial for refugees who drowned in the
(stock image)
family of four: they cheated death in bombed-out aleppo only to drown in the aegean
attempting to reach europe via turkey http://ektos-
a story older than water
hope can be the cruelest mother of all
wearing heavy fragrance to hide the smell of blood
voyagers carry it on their shoulders
on top of political prisons and electrified torture chambers
their hair unravels deep into the future
coast guard vessels dangerously maneuver themselves into a position to block their entrance
how they think the sun is all for them and the water is all for them
this shard of the story will never be told
nothing more than shadow of the drowned, odor of mint wafting
dismembered bodies cannot remember themselves
* Revolving Doors, a poem in 36 parts, follows, with some deviations, the structure of Nanni Balestrini’s Blackout (Rome: DeriveApprodi, 2001).
A list of sources used in this cut-up and the pattern of their usage is available here; the poet’s introduction to the work is available here.
Barricade is publishing the first 16 poems in the series on our web forum Ramparts throughout the month of August; the full 36-poem sequence will be available as a print zine in September 2024. Revolving Doors will also be published in THE LIGHT THAT BURNS US, an expanded anthology of Khaleed’s work forthcoming from World Poetry Books on October 10. Pre-order at worldpoetrybooks.com.