Refugee Week runs June 20-26.
From: The refugee tells
By Sargon Boulus, trans. Youssef Rakha
The refugee absorbed in telling his tale
feels no burning, when the cigarette stings his fingers.
He’s absorbed in the awe of being Here
after all those Theres: the stations, and the ports,
the search parties, the forged papers…
From: The Last in a Line of Refugee Descendents
By Ashraf Fayadh, trans. Jonathan Wright
Being a refugee means standing at the end of the queue
to get a fraction of a country.
Standing is something your grandfather did, without knowing the reason.
And the fraction is you.
The country: a card you put in your wallet with your money.
Money: pieces of paper with pictures of leaders.
Pictures: they stand in for you until you go back.
Going back: a mythical creature that appears in your grandfather’s stories.
Here endeth the first lesson.
The lesson is conveyed to you so that you can learn the second lesson, which is “what do you signify?”
From: No search, no rescue
By Jehan Bseiso
Maps on our backs.
Long way from home.
From: A refugee in the paradise that is Europe
By Hassan Blasim, trans. Jonathan Wright
In their pictures they draw you drowning.
They put you in their museums and applaud.
They decide to stop hitting you and set up a military unit to confront you.
Academics get new grant money to research your body and your soul.
Politicians drink red wine after an emergency meeting to discuss your fate.
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