To mark World Poetry Day, we are publishing the Palestinian poet’s first work since he was jailed in Saudi Arabia, in which he explores grief and imprisonment. Read it here in both English and Arabic
Tense times for me,
and sleep’s acting like a newly love-struck teen.
I shall disregard the state my heart’s in
and my mind’s upheavals like water bubbling
past the boiling point.
I am a part of the universe with which the universe is angry,
a part of the earth of which the earth feels utterly ashamed,
a wretched human towards whom
other humans cannot maintain neutrality.
