{"id":13436,"date":"2021-03-13T19:56:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T17:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=13436"},"modified":"2021-03-14T19:58:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T17:58:25","slug":"poems-by-hibah-shabkhez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=13436","title":{"rendered":"poems by Hibah Shabkhez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under the Skin<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Would I fain not peel these subterfuges<\/p>\n

Neatly, like a banana’s yellow shell<\/p>\n

Off these your eyes locked in a forced slumber?<\/p>\n

Cut out in neat slicelings the refuges<\/p>\n

Of the autophagous guilts that compel<\/p>\n

You to stillness? Not gracefully sunder<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You from its throes? But would I not then find<\/p>\n

A curved white column as closed and obscure<\/p>\n

That would promptly break into three, unbind,<\/p>\n

Expose its threads of rot, then be no more?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X-Ray Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From wind-nudges we seek sanctuary<\/p>\n

Like the tall aspens of song and legend,<\/p>\n

Like September leaves clinging to the tree,<\/p>\n

Like ashen shells of broken-eggs-to-be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wind and Water, Fire and Earth,<\/p>\n

Build us waiflings a shield and hearth!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From gazes that bore flinchlessly without end<\/p>\n

Upward, coreward into cringing skies<\/p>\n

That to fear-sogged lead baleful glares rend,<\/p>\n

We flee, crawl to the grey shadows to mend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wind and Water, Fire and Earth,<\/p>\n

Build us waiflings a shield and hearth!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From eyes that deem flesh and skin warping lies,<\/p>\n

Immovable as stones pierce through to see<\/p>\n

The bare soul-truth that unswaddled in ruth dies,<\/p>\n

We fly, and howl in faux bereft-wolf cries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wind and Water, Fire and Earth,<\/p>\n

Build us waiflings a shield and hearth!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just Human Things<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can\u2019t be happy the bees are dying<\/p>\n

Even though they sting not in self-defence<\/p>\n

Like other insects, but with viciousness<\/p>\n

And purpose almost human. You commence<\/p>\n

By glaring at the news, long to erase<\/p>\n

The grinning bee-coloured sun pointed west,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That fuel of life that dips its head and says<\/p>\n

\u2018Remember me, earthling? Yes, I sting too<\/p>\n

But you pray for me to go on shining.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nature is laughing up her moonlit sleeve:<\/p>\n

\u2018You can\u2019t be happy the bees are dying<\/p>\n

Because you\u2019re human. You know you must grieve.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quavering at Fate<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The shoe rolls into a wavering row<\/p>\n

These six worn red balls sprawling on the pitch<\/p>\n

Waiting for the old man\u2019s square drives to throw<\/p>\n

Each one into the net with a skill which<\/p>\n

Quavers at fate a full kettle of rage<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The clouds, grass, birds, planes, flowers are all zoomed<\/p>\n

Out of eyes bent upon this one fiddle;<\/p>\n

In the trembling strands of the nylon-cage<\/p>\n

Glints the stark hurt of a being born doomed<\/p>\n

To live laugh love greatly and win little<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the Skin   Would I fain not peel these subterfuges Neatly, like a banana’s yellow shell Off these your eyes locked in a forced slumber?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1452,77],"tags":[1453,1123,1483],"class_list":["post-13436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-66","category-english","tag-egophobia-66","tag-english","tag-hibah-shabkhez"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-3uI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13437,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13436\/revisions\/13437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}