Friday, June 2, 2023

The perfume of your smiles

The ear is the avenue to the heart.
~Voltaire


Hi folks! Happy Poetry Friday! Today's poem is "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear" by Mosab Abu Toha.

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear
by Mosab Abu Toha

For Alicia M. Quesnel, MD

i

When you open my ear, touch it
gently.
My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside.
Her voice is the echo that helps recover my equilibrium
when I feel dizzy during my attentiveness.

You may encounter songs in Arabic,
poems in English I recite to myself,
or a song I chant to the chirping birds in our backyard.

When you stitch the cut, don’t forget to put all these back in my ear...

read the rest here (ugh, I forgot to add this link at first!)

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The Miss Rumphius Effect has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Tricia!

8 comments:

laurasalas said...

Ooh, it's kind of like a "Where I'm From" poem with just a slightly different structure. Thanks, Tabatha!

Michelle Kogan said...

Ooo what a painfully good poem, though this earful really hits you in the heart, thanks Tabatha.

Sally Murphy said...

Oh wow! When I started I felt that it was a lovely match to Linda B's poignant poem of memories - and then I clicked the link and read the rest and gasped. What a stunning poem, with a gut-punch of an ending. I will be thinking about this for a very long time. Thank you for sharing.

Robyn Hood Black said...

I'm with Sally - I was completely unprepared for section II, making this such a painfully potent poem. Thank you for sharing, Tabatha!

mbhmaine said...

Wow, as others have noted, this poem sure takes a powerful turn! The contrast of the two stanzas has me reeling a bit and will definitely linger. Thanks for sharing!

Linda B said...

Would that we could take it all away, those sounds of misery still sitting in the ear. Wow, Tabatha, I know you love music so imagined this was part of that love, then the second part, wham! But I like the ending that helps: "my doctor, day and night." Thanks always for giving us a poem that is thoughtful, one to take away and hold for a while.

Patricia Franz said...

Wow. This poem is STUNNING. Thank you, Tabatha.

Karen Edmisten said...

Oh, wow, there's so much going on here. I didn't expect the turn in part II. Amazing.