Poetry: Ahmad Al-khatat

The Seaside and Fireside

the seaside and fireside 
and a glass of Arak with ice cubes 
an anthology of poetry 
I was browsing and sipping.
My intellect and spirit were 
imaginative so I began to 
create horses, proverbs, portraits 
and civil paintings.
The artist of my imagination
was more beautiful than ever
She was pouring love on the roses 
and smiling with no tears of fears.
I wanted the evening to end
just to observe the sun rise
while I pray to the seaside and 
the fireside to remain there longer. 
***


Counting the Stars

Counting the stars have not to lead me 
to an extraordinary dream,
Perhaps, the stars back in my homeland
were damaged like my heart.
Seeing you around is the miracle I admire,
Your smile destroys what grief has planted 
in my tears, my arteries, and my gray ageing,
are you the moon in my black & white freedom?
In your eyes, there are no fences but more roses
In your eyes, there are no cages but more lovebirds
In your eyes, there are no barriers but more immunity 
Keep smiling and let the world knows that we are tough
Look forward and stroll through the path of the sunshine
Do not ever hide from the sun rays when you are the light
that no nation would be able to offer it to their people, just
like my motherland who broke the canvas, I once drew before.
***


Our Sun 

Our sun rises and we still cannot raise up
raised in poverty and realized that's a blessing 
We taught to walk barefoot with a laughter face
We embraced our heartless enemies constantly 
We adopted suicide risks, depressions, insomnia 
to our sensitive spirit who we flooded with our tears 
The shirtless man and his pregnant wife are 
sleeping on the mud of the border hoping that 
they will be able to across the country for a better
-future to their child, since our culture would do
nothing but name tags, and mislead the direction
of the peace that we spent years dreaming about
Our sun shares its glow with the moon in blues 
Yet, we sleep in darkness as if the sky is the mirror 
and we are the shattered stars in the eyes of the warrior.
***

Ahmad Al-Khatat was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His work has appeared in print and online journals globally and has poems translated into several languages. He has been nominated for Best of the Net 2018. He is the author of The Bleeding Heart Poet, Love On The War’s Frontline, Gas Chamber, Wounds from Iraq, Roofs of Dreams, The Grey Revolution, and Noemi & Lips of Sweetness. He lives in Montreal, Canada.

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