Artwork by Manzel Bowman It was almost the same everyday. Wake up. In the dark she folds her blanket, places it in the center, then rolls up the mattress, hoists it to her shoulder and […]
Tag: Family
Scene ١
Artwork by Hanadi Alqurashi She barely hides her smile as she unfastens her earrings. Reaching for the lights she lets the end of her toub slide across the floor, a tease for him though he […]
{ام العريس / mother of the groom}
A year, ten months and thirteen days have passed. And your youngest son has decided to marry. Jokingly they call me ‘ام العريس / mother of the groom’, and while I keep smiling I grimace […]
{These Roots}
Where is home? A year ago I would’ve given the answer of a third culture kid. “It’s complicated” Home is never the place we currently reside. Anything outside of Sudan is temporary. Even when we’d […]
Tell Her
Artwork by Jeff Manning I’d tell her I miss her How when I’m in the presence of other mothers I melt soften gazing, devouring every minute detail, it’s not envy, it’s not sadness I’d just […]
Here I Am {لَبَّيْكَ}
Expectation My mother had planned to perform Umrah. We were so sure, her cancer in remission, that already one of her sisters had promised to buy her an abaya & that all of us would take […]
{The Story Can Resume}
Artwork by Daehyun Kim امي The translation, ‘my mother’, does no justice to the tender possessiveness, almost selfish reverence in having you as mine and mine alone. Hearing that title in its many forms almost being […]
{Umi is/was}
I’ve been sleeping with the lights on. Not because of the fear of darkness, but call it childish, I feel like this man made illumination can ward off death. Maybe the light keeps away those […]
{ lessالقيمة v. القيمة }
‘Silence gives answers’ – Rumi I’ve had this plan since I was 14. It seemed like a simple one; to go back and stay in Sudan. Not as a bride or old & wanting to […]
Her Mother’s Eyes
Her favorite thing, her favorite thing was looking into her mothers eyes, at how they crinkled at the sides, and just knowing that all was right That she could run, she could skip she could […]
{Merry’Go’Round’Khartoum}
The family had been drifting. Not necessarily apart, but into the lukewarmness of each being too busy with work, errands, the intricacy of living & holding a set of reservations, old burns & secrets against […]
{Ramadan Log 2013}
When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason – Hemingway The last week or so of Ramadan I stopped writing because I […]
Nubian(Q) 