by Noeme Tabor–Farjani
there is no time to make pigeon holes,
the wasteland walls will do
as dwelling for these remnants
salvaged among a thousand
last breaths
there is no need for peepholes
for we are under an open sky,
a far cry from our fortresses
that have crumbled.
no need to muffle our voices,
as our ears are now deaf,
thanks to shelling
and explosives
that numbed our hearing,
it’s a wonder how they
assign those nouns
as adjectives to podiums
and lecture halls
now decorated with
calcified fowl droppings,
that look like bread crumbs.
no need for ornaments,
our wings, and houses
in bullet holes are enough
to decorate a citadel
that stands proud
above the vast ruins
Noeme Grace C Tabor-Farjani, PhD, is a Tripoli, Libya-based Filipino poet and memoirist. She is the author of the poetry collections The Gospel of Grace (Newcomer Press, 2021) and Inspecting Wastelands (Ukiyoto, 2023) as well as Letters from Libya: Letters-in-Memoirs (2018), a prose chapbook on her family’s escape from war.