Fawzia Alawi Alawi - Women

Live Encounters Arab Women Poets & Writers April 2024

Women

Women who are tired of hanging laundry

And peeling garlic in dark kitchens

Women who cut their fingers when

Darning the finches and

The arrogant vultures’ socks

Women who are tired

From tasting the salt meals

And the bitter tea

Women who complain of varicose veins and the sweat of sorrow

And from the emptiness of the dictionary of love

Women who plant fragrant crops in pots that do not grow Green

And those who plant olive trees

In minefields

The recorded in the notebooks of despair

Because they are chickens that do not lay eggs

It happened that one day they made funny wishes

The tall white lady said

I would like, oh, I would like to smoke a cigarette in the Port café

Without the carp spying on me

Or sailors throw green apples

And the stinky nets at me

The fat woman said, “I would like, I would like, if, if.”

I swam in that pool alone

Coverless except for the clouds

Without being harassed by fish

Or the crab craves my body foam

The secretive lady said, “I wish I could sing at the top of my voice.”

Until the birds gather on the corners of the shops

Without the sellers being upset by the possible dissonance in my voice

A man follows war news on Channel 3

Shouted angrily at his friend

Who is this poetess that dares our women against us?

© Fawzia Alawi Alawi

Fawzia Alawi Alawi is a Tunisian poet, novelist and essayist who has published nine poetry and short story collections, in addition to a novel entitled “Faces for One Woman” (2020). She also won several national and Arabic awards.