Poetry Break: Mimesis by Fady Joudah
Fady Joudah is a “Palestinian American physician, poet, and translator.” Here is his poem Mimesis, from Joudah’s 2013 book Alight:
***
My daughter
wouldn’t hurt a spider
That had nested
Between her bicycle handles
For two weeks
She waited
Until it left of its own accord
If you tear down the web I said
It will simply know
This isn’t a place to call home
And you’d get to go biking
She said that’s how others
Become refugees isn’t it?
***
BTW, if you’re unfamiliar with the title of this poem mimesis, Merriam-Webster notes, it’s a word that dates back to Ancient Greece and it means “the attempt to imitate or reproduce reality.”
-KitJ
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