Community Poetry Journal

I'm doing summer school English at the moment (hip hip hooray) and one activity my teacher had us do was something she called "Goldilocks Poetry" - find a poem we found too easy, a poem we found too hard, and a poem we found just right. And of course, explain why each one was easy/hard/perfect. I thought I'd share with you all my "just right" poem! It's called Thing You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha.

I felt like this poem was just right because, for one thing, I was completely captivated the whole time - and for another, it made me rethink the way I look at ears and sounds. To me, if a poem introduces you to a totally new image combo or idea or perspective, then you know it's done its job right.

(tw: mention of bombs in second stanza)

i

When you open my ear, touch it
gently.
My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside.
Her voice is the echo that helps recover my equilibrium
when I feel dizzy during my attentiveness.

You may encounter songs in Arabic,
poems in English I recite to myself,
or a song I chant to the chirping birds in our backyard.

When you stitch the cut, don’t forget to put all these back in my ear.
Put them back in order as you would do with books on your shelf.

ii

The drone’s buzzing sound,
the roar of an F-16,
the screams of bombs falling on houses,
on fields, and on bodies,
of rockets flying away—
rid my small ear canal of them all.

Spray the perfume of your smiles on the incision.
Inject the song of life into my veins to wake me up.
Gently beat the drum so my mind may dance with yours,
my doctor, day and night.