California, 2013
in a land of abundance
California
the state of the sun
I persevere
I write of Middle Eastern characters
in my short stories
I drink shai with miramyeh
I wear headscarves made in Al-Khalil
I persevere
with black Kohl on brown eyes
in a classroom full of Americans
I speak of my homeland
Palestine
the country not recognized
the people not forgiving
I persevere
in a kitchen made of hardwood floors
designed in the United States
I make zaatar pastries
cheese-filled mojanat
eat with labaneh
as I persevere
of books about Native Americans
I think of the 1948 refugees
in Immigrant Literature
I persevere
in a house I can call my own
in a city I pay electricity for
in a university
in the cool summer nights of Anaheim
I persevere
between the silent sobs
and the loud laughs
I persevere
I wait to return
I engage to not forget
I speak to remember
the intricate vowels
the absence of silent letters
and the shadeh
I persevere
the Arabic
the culture
the brown hands clapping in weddings
wiping tears in funerals
whistling in matches
I persevere
for them
to them
I persevere
Dr. Laila Shikaki is an award-winning published poet and academic from Palestine. Laila has a Ph.D in English Literature from St. John's University in New York City, an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University in California, and a BA in English Language and Literature from Birzeit University in Palestine. Shikaki’s dissertation “Journeys Through Home and Exile: Palestinian Autobiographic Writing,” explores Palestinian autobiography, intergenerational relationships, exile, as well as her own published poems. Laila currently teaches writing and literature classes at Birzeit University in Palestine. Her poems have been featured in many literary magazines including TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Sequoya, Nazzar Look, Pomona Valley Review, Metrics Conversions Poetry of our Time, and We Chose Everything; a bilingual poetry anthology that features over 50 Arab poets published in Lebanon.
