I weep for my mother’s maiden name
In Egypt there are no women
with first names. Only spinsters aanisat
or mothers umm.
Umm mother to her
eldest son. Wife to husband,
Al- , bin-, so quickly
after she loses her second name
will her first join.
Do the zabaleen
come around - village
to village -
to pick them up?
Revolution Friends, Hazem Taha Huussein