My Diaspora
It opens up to you
not like when you open the door on a thundery day, with the wind hitting your face and blowing your scarf away, yet you have the earth beneath your feet
It is more like a black hole, similar to those we see in nightmares, but we can’t escape no matter how much we blare
In this black hole, kiddos hang themselves because they have no smartphones
not to have fun with, no, no, no, no
but to attend school in pandemic days
and now those angels found their way to graves!
Where they put in jail, mother and daughter as the punishment for their decision
‘cause they want to be free, just like swallows, flying but not flee
‘cause they want the wind to blow in their hair, and the sun to shine without a fear!
Spiraled downward, I hear screams of a woman and her children -one is as young as mine-
When the officials ruin their shack, to make into ash what they called their “house”
Neither bulldozers, not even hammers, a push of the hand proved to suffice to tear the bricks down and her life shattered
Next thing I know, I am safe, and sound and my son is fine; and Judith Butler is talking to us on “The force of Nonviolence”
The whole November, I did not just dare to look at the blood that blossomed on the young faces -as young as 13- that stared at me with life in their eyes
Sure after a year and for many more to come
I did run away from the warmth of their bodies lying on the street with people running, the warmth that poured out of my screen and so far beyond
And their names gliding over my hometown
Where the air is polluted and so are all the minds,
And how to end all this? With a finger touch!
Just touch the × on that corner up!
But how to stop that one finger touch on the trigger of the all those guns?
That won’t fade away, but now anyway, it’s time to wake up!
Ah, Welcome to Hanau[1]!
Welcome to life in my diaspora!
[1] In February 2020, a racist gunman killed nine people in two shisha bars in the German town of Hanau.