Palestinian Recipe Poem by Nassy Fesharaki

Palestinian recipe

Time is light
-burns but enlightens

Travel is a beast; carries tirelessly
-and sets the mirrors in the Kajaveh
-or Palanquin of a caravan in desert
-so…

In time I travelled
-to La Oroya, Peru
-in search of the Spanish and the Yankees'
-cruelty...but…

The miracle was finding Khalil
-a Palestinian there, married
-my host for a while

Hospitable as are they
-hospitality is integrated in
-the blood of the Middle East

He served me a coffee
-locally brewed; grounded,
-kept in a jar; thick and strong
-he mixed it with the boiled water

With avocado
-cut in four
-peeled

It was lovely…
-La Oroya
-yet being in
-Palestine

Khalil…
-displaced by cruelty
-lived among men
-unable to leave
-the cruelty