life is heavy and fast, which only exacerbates its heaviness and velocity. So here’s a reminder to stop and read a poem or two, maybe with your morning coffee or evening tea; maybe on your day off or the weekend walk. I hope you enjoy them. The prompt for this week is abudance and scarcity:… Continue reading February 2025
Category: THE POETIC TIMES
January 2025
Is it 2025 already? I no longer perceive time. The Palestinian flag that the student union hung last year has lost color, fading away, and yet the genocide machine still busy: eating us alive; starving us from the inside; disbowling our sanity. I think of Gaza everyday. Some days I am hopeful and other days… Continue reading January 2025
September 2024
I skipped the months of July and August. Life was happening with so much intensity, and there was little time for me to reflect or read. During the last two weeks in August I got to snuggle in my childhood room, surrounded with my books and journals. The dissonance of being at home during such… Continue reading September 2024
JUNE 2024
This month was so difficult. Finals and genocide? Finals and genocide and being surrounded with zionists and racists? sometimes I admire us (oppressed people) for our ability to stay calm in the face of so much bullshit. I attended a conference by Ghassan Abu Sitta. The talk was amazing. One thing that stood out for… Continue reading JUNE 2024
May 2024
May is mighty. May is sad. May is relentless. It’s a month of Nakabat (catastrophes); of Massacres; of Mayhem. May is for workers and workers for May. Yesterday, the Columbia Gaza Encampment was dissolved by the NYPD forces, arresting tens of students and throwing away their tents. They think that robbing us of the material… Continue reading May 2024
April 2024
T.S. Eliot wrote in his Wateland: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers.” Life seems unreal. 6 months of live-streamed genocide. What is sanity… Continue reading April 2024
November 2023
Pablo Neruda lived in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, and upon being asked why aren’t you writing poetry about lilacs and philosophy? he responded: come look at the blood in the streets Venid a ver la sangre por las calles. How can I write a POETIC TIMES post when a genocide is taking place… Continue reading November 2023
Octuber 2023
I finished reading Isabel Allende’s masterpiece La Casa de los Espirítus last week, and I’m still gripped by its magic.The story spans over more than 1 century and covers the tumultuos events that Chile (it also can be any other Latin America country) went through during the 20th century. The narrator, who is also one… Continue reading Octuber 2023
September 2023
September means pomegranates, overripe tomatoes and Earth Wind and Fire song. It also means beginnings and initiation. In Arabic, the word for September is Aylul (أيلول), which comes from the Syriac word ܐܝܼܠܘܼܠ. My niece is called Aylul. She’s two years old and already succeeded in bringing so much joy and laughter to this world.… Continue reading September 2023
August 2023
I always think of August as a bittersweet month. I feel it’s the last time to relax and enjoy before we start the next academic/work year in September. For the past fifteen minutes, I tried to describe specifically this feeling that I have towards August, and I couldn’t. The only thing that comes up to… Continue reading August 2023
AICHA BINT YUSIF 