amazing

what one short
conversation
can do for your
mood

it’s also amazing

how one short
hour
can ruin any
memories of
happiness you’ve
ever
had

remarkable

how much
one
thing
can get to
you

and yet
all we can
do
is keep
marching
on
and hope the
former
outweighs
everything
else

take one snapshot
of your life in motion
and stop to look
at it

now listen
to it play out
like you think
it should

tell someone
what you thought
and then burn
the picture

make your dreams
be your reality

no, I don’t expect
things to be fine
when I wake up

no, I doubt I’ll
feel any better or
the world will be
any different

no, I really can’t
say that I look
forward to trudging
through another
day with a smile
painted on my
face

no, I think it’s
going to be even
worse

yes, I know that
everything is O.K.
for now

yes, I realize this
is quite doom and
gloom of me

yes, I have tried
to stop being like
this

maybe, I wonder
if maybe it’ll all
get better one day

SUICIDE OF AN INTELLIGENT GIRL

Ayad Gharbawi


October 9, 1994 – London

Abrupt instant
Surfaces here
As I write my
Own bloodied script
That speaks
Of my animated
Lives

I see faces whose needs
Are criticizing their
Self-less children..

Just as I reduce
Myself
To a pointless
Second
Of such
Menace

Can you ever imagine me
Just as I
Drive my own
Continuation
To a quiet
Edge?

a father and son
     once lost for generations 
          trade rhythm and rhyme


what we couldn't speak
     through that growing up clutter
          we have found in time

     7.iii.11