To Make Use of Water by Safia Elhillo
My name is Safia Elhillo,
and this poem is called
“to make use of water.”
dilute
i forget the arabic word for economy
i forget the english word for عسل
forget the arabic word for incense
& english word for مسكين
arabic word for sandwich
english for صيدلية & مطعم & وله
/stupid girl, atlantic got your tongue/
blur
back home we are plagued by
a politeness so dense
even the doctors cannot call
things what they are
my grandfather’s left eye
swirled thick with smoke
what my new mouth can call glaucoma
while the arabic still translates to
the white water
swim
i want to go home
dissolve
i want to go home
drown
half don’t even make it out or across
you get to be ungrateful
you get to be homesick
from safe inside your blue
american passport
do you even understand what was lost
to bring you here