My Crime

Appeared in Fikra Magazine, 21 March 2024

My crime 


I am a thistle


in the throat of a cannon


a blood clot


in the veins of invaders


a scribble on the margins


of a decrepit promise


an afterthought on discarded maps. 


My crime is that I live

and keep on living, like 

a resounding love song

filled with hope

in the hollow halls 

of criminal factories


for weapons of mass murder.