Posts by designloud
A day at the park a few days Before March, 2003
Published in HarmonyVol.7 2005-2006 pink mouthstalk loud and fastabout husbandsdiscount buying clubscloth diapersdiaper rashgood schoolstest scoresdue datesselfish factafter great selfish factflattens tensionsinto circlesof chatterno achesno lossspelled in heavy wordsno Indian moviesjust minivanssleep patternspoop patternseating preferencesrefused vaccinesfat emptinesstranslated intopurchasing on-lineGap qualityat discount pricesforgotten pedicureslonged-for massagesa solitary father appearsand that dowdy self-consciousmothersmoothes her hairher legsher tummybut remainsthickand…
Read MoreHandfuls of Wind
Published in The Poetry of Arab Women, Nathalie Handal, ed.Interlink Books, 2001 This summer I caught handfuls of windAt 65 miles per hourIn KentuckyAnd imaginedThat the air in my handWas laced with orange blossom,That the billboards were not in EnglishAnd that you were next to me. Your memories are piles of silk:Colorful and unraveledIn a…
Read MoreBrowner Shades of White
Published in Food for Our Grandmothers, Joanna Kadi, ed.South End Press, 1994 Under race/ethnic originI check whiteI am nota minorityon their checklistsand they erase mewith the red endof a numbertwo pencil. I go to schoolquite poorbecause I am white.There is nosquare to checkthat I have nocamels in my backyard,that my father doesnot have eight wivesinside…
Read MoreThe Weight of Ghosts
Available at: The Weight of Ghosts is a lyrical memoir by an author struggling with the death of her older son and sifting through the details of her life. The Weight of Ghosts is a circling of grief following the death of the author’s older son when he was twenty-one, a horror that was compounded by her…
Read Morewhy an author writes to a guy holding a fish: poems
Available at: A story in verse chronicling the misadventures of a recently divorced Lebanese woman dating in America. Laila Halaby’s second collection of poetry, why an author writes to a guy holding a fish is a story in verse. This honest, sensual, and often funny series of narrative poems chronicles the author’s decision to leave her two-decades-long…
Read Moremy name on his tongue
Available at: Intensely personal and marked with a trenchant wit, these poems form a memoir following Halaby’s life as they explore the disorientation of exile, the challenge of navigating two cultures, and the struggle to shape her own creative identity. She shares the struggles of growing up—the desire for belonging and the solace of community—with…
Read MoreOnce in a Promised Land
Available at: A Book Sense Notable Title A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection Named one of the 100 best fiction books of 2007 by the Washington Post Once in a Promised Landis the story of Jassim and Salwa, who left the deserts of their native Jordan for those of Arizona, each chasing…
Read MoreWest of the Jordan
Available at: A NovelA Bluestreak Original PaperbackBeacon PressISBN: 978-0-8070-8359-8 This is a brilliant and revelatory first novel by a woman who is both an Arab and an American, who speaks with both voices and understands both worlds. Through the narratives of four cousins at the brink of maturity, Laila Halaby immerses her readers in the…
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