Al-Balad, Jeddah

WOODEN SEATS

I stick to wooden seats
where I can see
those who never ask where they are,
when they show up some place new.
And those who play when they can at night,
when nothing grows in the fields except silence,
or when they aren’t hawking counterfeits
in the sour kidneys of the city.

When I stick to wooden seats,
I never worry about seeing pedants,
rich and fat,
who are as precious to me as houseflies.

Al-Balad, Jeddah

Al-Balad, Jeddah

Al-Balad, Jeddah