I Once Looked In A Mirror But Couldn’T See My Body

(Ekphrastic poem, after ‘The Persistence of Memory’ by Salvador Dali)
after Mahmoud Darwish

It didn’t feel much different
than walking
through this country, citizen
less & carrying
a history. Somewhere
is my body
alone & watching
my father
in the middle of the night
drawing & redrawing
a map of Palestine, green
ink —

& it hurts
& it hurts
& it hurts
& it hurts

What is Palestine if not the olive tree growing on my father’s tongue
What is Palestine if not the olive tree growing
What is Palestine if not the olive
What is Palestine
What —

Somewhere is a clock.
Melting.