The Sunflower

The Sunflower


The Sunflower

cricket song-
the full moon with
a gray halo

I live in a small Arab town called Nazareth. My first encounter with my closed, traditional society was when I declared that I was going to study in Haifa University. The second was when I took a driving license. The third was when I married a Muslim whom I met in the university and decided that he was my life partner. Mixed marriages are not accepted in my society. We married despite the strong storm which blew against us.
The forth was when I decided that I want to publish my writings in a local newspaper and later in a book. Everybody asked me:”Why do you want to write..!" The question repeated itself in different versions. I replied: “For the same reason which made Nezar Kabana, the famous Arab poet, write."

A tongue that
cannot say: NO!
isn't a tongue
of a human being.

My first book was my first cry against darkness.I called it: "a Revolution against Silence". People regarded my writing as an act of exposing the hidden, the dark and the unsaid. They thought that I disobeyed traditions, thus, I betrayed my own society.

turquoise sky-
the sunflower turns
towards dawn

I started teaching English and Creative Writing in a high school in Nazareth. One of my female pupils came to me with my book in her hands. Her face turned towards the sun while saying:"I am proud of you teacher.You said what we don’t dare to say!".




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Prompt:Logical Non Sequitur