by Jazra Khaleed
translated from the Greek by Jason Rigas
13.
what happens to a bird when it can no longer fly in its natural habitat
when did stones become the comrades of sunken boys
these people are still smiling somehow
if we just let a bunch of sharks loose in the aegean they’d sink their boats for sure
tousle-haired girl-child turning in death’s dream
honest blood out for blood
a mother who lost her three children, the youngest 8 months old and still nursing, and the others 2 and 3 years old
wearing heavy fragrance to hide the smell of blood
how many hands it takes to staunch a wound
rows of olive trees that lean into the road like ghosts
war smoked his way into our collective dream
the fires have begun
the little syrian girl thought the camera was a gun and immediately “surrendered”
they shoot kids in the knees and leave them for dead
#syria#syria#cирия#συρία#eyesonsyria a massacre in deir al zour 19/10/2012
14.
what sleep have we in this flattened city?
beneath the din of explosions no voice can be heard
the screaming and crying touched even the hardest
you’d think the dead would come at night
is someone really forcing them to throw kids on a boat on a cold winter night and drown
this shard of the story will never be told
the memory is left behind in state custody
according to the german press
the syrian slaughter continues http://dlvr.it
an old man is calling for an end to the tragic siege
so they can get to europe before the roads close, a possibility they are well aware of
syria is the most brutal tragedy we can remember
banned chemical weapons were illegally deployed in 2017
where love stops her ships
they shout “you’re fucked, hands up”
15.
these words are the weight cupped in our palms
the words are little tidal waves that swallow screens of desolation
patient urns on aegean window sills
rows of olive trees that lean into the road like ghosts
april was built for battle, may for burial
concedes that 1,300 non-combatants were indeed killed during expeditions carried out between august of 2014 and april of this year
and venizelos was saying we should bomb syria just a few months ago
thank god he didn’t think to send #lara_croft
it would be wise to reassess the situation
a detailed synopsis of military and political developments
attacks on medical facilities continue
#aleppo_is_burning#حلب_تحترق
guess what with 200 boats on the bottom and zero refugees coming in you just solved the demographic problem my friend
see: n. maliki: warnings of a proxy war in syria http://
syria, in pictures
16.
annotated map of the military situation in northwestern syria (31 august)
see: n. maliki: warnings of a proxy war in syria
visitors aren’t keen to show off their wealth or even announce themselves
stockpiling for an upcoming attack in response to the false flag
dress rehearsal for a global conflict
the international coalition concedes that 1,300 non-combatants were indeed
#gtfo man we’re not all #cowboys
please report spam for this account because of hate speech against syrians
beneath the din of explosions no voice can be heard
she was arrested after taking part in an anti-assad demonstration #women #prison
the attempted coup was a failure
so they can get to europe before the roads close, a possibility they are well aware of
a harmonious coexistence and codependence between “border control” and the illicit movement of people across those borders
a strategy of constant movement under pressure, constant exploitation, and zero visibility
migrants spend their lives crossing borders
* 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.