Warsan Shire
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
MIDDERNACHT BIJ DE BUITENLANDSE VOEDINGSMIDDELEN
Beste Oom, is alles waar je van houdt vreemd
of ben je vreemd voor alles waar je van houdt?
We zijn allemaal dieren en het lichaam wil wat
het wil, geloof me, ik weet het. De blondine zei
Kom binnen, schat, doe je jas uit, wat
wil je drinken?
Liefde is niet haram, maar na jaren neuken
met vrouwen die je naam niet kunnen uitspreken,
sta je helemaal alleen, bij de buitenlandse
voedingsmiddelen, naast de kurkuma en de saffraan,
denkend aan je moeders warme, donkere handen,
prosternerend voor het halalvlees, biddend in een
taal die je al jaren niet gebruikt hebt.
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
Dear Uncle, is everything you love foreign
or are you foreign to everything you love?
We’re all animals and the body wants what
it wants, trust me, I know. The blonde said
Come in, love, take off your coat, what do
you want to drink?
Love is not haram but after years of fucking
women who are unable to pronounce your name,
you find yourself totally alone, in the foreign
food aisle, beside the turmeric and saffron,
remembering your mother’s warm, dark hands,
prostrating in front of the halal meat, praying in a
language you haven’t used in years.
From: Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
Publisher: Penguin Random house,
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
Dear Uncle, is everything you love foreign
or are you foreign to everything you love?
We’re all animals and the body wants what
it wants, trust me, I know. The blonde said
Come in, love, take off your coat, what do
you want to drink?
Love is not haram but after years of fucking
women who are unable to pronounce your name,
you find yourself totally alone, in the foreign
food aisle, beside the turmeric and saffron,
remembering your mother’s warm, dark hands,
prostrating in front of the halal meat, praying in a
language you haven’t used in years.
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
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