Tablets VII
1
They inscribed their lives on clay
and moved away
I hear the echo pulse by pulse
2
Some memories we chase
like goats away from flowers,
yet we wake one day
to the wilted ruins
3
Let’s meet in the word forgotten
from the dictionary, and breathe
its air like the smell of the “klecha”
my mother baked for the Eid holiday
4
In my country, I was a stranger.
In exile, I am strange
5
The spider built its net
in a statue’s open palm.
For the spider, the palm is home,
not a metaphor of home
6
Imprisoned in the magical lamp
for years that exceeded even the jinni’s ability
to count; he cannot wish himself out.
His brief freedoms only come
when others wish for a bit of luck
7
When Human cries,
Dog thinks the world is ending.
When Human smiles,
two stars from the world’s end
glitter in Dog’s eyes.
When Human makes war
or any other ridiculous thing,
Dog begs to curl up together on the rug
8
She calls aloud for the absentees
in her country’s air,
calling day and night
until they cling in her voice
9
If you don’t carry the sun
within, then why does light
spill from you everywhere?
10
Deep inside the beach,
moss grows around a rock,
a soft embrace.
When the water washes it away,
it trembles like the gestures
we make waving from balconies
for our loved ones
in pandemic times
11
We remember the days from the words
of our beloved people
12
They kept drawing circles on the ground
as if their alphabet is a feeling with no end
13
Sometimes I scribble images
because I don’t have the words
14
I ask the moon: Which is more worthy of love
your light or darkness?
Moon answers: A worthy love accepts both faces
15
On the chess board,
a pawn crawls to the last square
to survive
16
Earth, too, needs a space
17
I time-traveled to you
for a question
18
Through closed eyes,
she saw their stolen bodies,
their scattered feathers,
and their flutes
19
Sad silence is translated into all languages
20
The first moment of war:
a slippery fish from the river
21
The cage owner reminds the sparrow:
life outside is inferno.
One day the sparrow flies away
and there in the heights,
overlooking the ruins of the world,
the sparrow discovers the cage owner was right.
It sings about the ruins,
a beautiful song with no walls
22
Does the clock know
that its little ticks
make eternity?
23
With one click,
I can download your smile
and everything will be good
24
Let love be
the new world order
Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation
Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.
We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.
In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before—but we need your support to make that happen.
Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we hit the full match, we’ll be starting 2026 with $150,000 to invest in the stories that impact real people’s lives—the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren’t covering.
With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won’t want you to read. We’ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we’ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now.
While your gift has twice the impact, I’m asking you to support The Nation with a donation today. You’ll empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account.
I hope you won’t miss this moment—donate to The Nation today.
Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and publisher, The Nation
