From “In Arabic, the Word for ‘War’ Is Similar to ‘Love’” by Sara Abou Rashed

From "In Arabic, the Word for 'War' Is Similar to 'Love'"
by Sara Abou Rashed

When children protested the regime
then died in its prisons, officers

sent their fathers notes that read:

Come pick up the corpse in exchange for the mother,
we'll ensure she bears another one.

I loved the juxtaposition Sara Abou Rashed used in “In Arabic, the Word for ‘War’ Is Similar to ‘Love.’” The way the poem seemingly begins with tenderness and bleeds into violence. Due to current political situations in the Middle East (thanks to American and Israel’s ongoing genocide), I picked the ugliness of war.

You can read the poem in full PoetryFoundation.org.