Nathalie Handal Poems

The phone line is on fire,
my cousin's spirit in flames
as she tells me
about Dar Al-Kalima
...

The shadows of birds fading on a fighter's back
The undressing of words on an unstamped postcard
The wet swings in the distant park
...

When the white trees are no longer in sight
they are telling us something,
like the body that undresses
...

I traveled nowhere where I could not be found.
I knocked on every neighbors' door, stole every pillow,
wiped away the ants on my kitchen table, leaned against
...

I don't know if I left the window open,
or the electric fireplace on,
not sure if my name is Natalya or Navarro,
...

You greet me only with your eyes.
That evening you write to me
on a starless night,
...

We say lightning has no wings
when it slides down our houses
...

A cup of empty messages in a room of light,
light that blinds & blinded men lined up
the young are unable to die peacefully, I hear a man say.
...

the negrita cries, I hide
not to deceive the darkness
or myself…
...

He might return and if he appears blue I might
allow him on top and if he returns with the sun
I will let summer multiply on my body
...