Three Poems by Ahmad Al-Khatat

 

Distance Burnt

 

After the drab rain, the

taste of honey dims into

a midnight cigarette. Like the

money we earn from distance burnt.

 

She says that she loves me, yet

she asks what’s my death date? As

if my heart is a forsaken bullet, above

the lifeless flower in the lighthouse.

 

Let’s face my depression or whatever

your noisy educated brain desire to name it.

I drank because I can't strangle my crying-soul

-inside the leaking roofs of mental issues.

 

 

Immigrant Dream

 

My father was once an

immigrant dream,

he often struggled

to buy bottled water for us.

 

He taught me not to be a

slave to privileged people,

he trained me to be fierce

and speak about our country.

 

I attempted to whisper

through his deafness

“O father some people

are racists in exile”.

 

“O father some people

are the reason for why

immigrants, miserable,

and humans with a curse”.

 

I closed my eyes and my father

-faded away, went missing, and

absent for a lifetime. After! they

pulled on their trigger merciless.

 

 

Simple Orders

 

For me to be confident

I must adopt to my heart’s strength

 

For me to admire the blue sky,

I must displace the warplanes from

the dove’s wings of peace.

 

For me to smile to your face,

I must open my lyrical mouth and

kiss your rhyming lips.

 

Ahmad Al-Khatat was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His work has appeared in print and online journals globally. He has poems translated into several languages such as Farsi, Chinses, Spanish, Albanian, Romanian. He has published some poetry chapbooks, and a collection of short stories. He has been nominated for Best of the Net 2019 and was also nominated for the Pushcart Price 2020.