WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.165 align:middle line:84%
"Poem that wrote me into
beast in order to be read.

00:00:03.165 --> 00:00:06.550 align:middle line:90%


00:00:06.550 --> 00:00:10.840 align:middle line:84%
Samira and Aziza, and
Nabila Awatef and 3adaal,

00:00:10.840 --> 00:00:12.740 align:middle line:90%
Isis and Ma'at.

00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:16.930 align:middle line:84%
Yes, Ma'at of the 42 laws and
ideals we used to live by.

00:00:16.930 --> 00:00:20.470 align:middle line:84%
You of white feather and
commandment who made us,

00:00:20.470 --> 00:00:22.720 align:middle line:84%
taught us of stars
and named them.

00:00:22.720 --> 00:00:26.200 align:middle line:84%
Named us made nout and
systems of irrigation.

00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:29.590 align:middle line:84%
Nile Delta, source
inventors of mead

00:00:29.590 --> 00:00:32.800 align:middle line:84%
and kohl for drawing of
lapis and woven cloth.

00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:35.570 align:middle line:90%
Harp Sinai Berber pen and paper.

00:00:35.570 --> 00:00:37.570 align:middle line:84%
We were winged
creatures, weren't we?

00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:40.240 align:middle line:84%
Tell me, because I
still dream of flight.

00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:43.420 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes I trumpet
waiting to be sound.

00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.760 align:middle line:84%
I who have made
earrings of arrow.

00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:48.040 align:middle line:84%
Reporting now to you of
the mythical creatures

00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:51.280 align:middle line:84%
I dismantled in order to
become the one writing words

00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:52.360 align:middle line:90%
you are reading.

00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:55.960 align:middle line:84%
Tarsal by metatarsal, I
disjointed false to be true.

00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.740 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes I am cell with eyes
made up of five strand DNA

00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.930 align:middle line:90%
quintuple helix amoeba bond.

00:01:01.930 --> 00:01:04.450 align:middle line:84%
I would claim you as
my ancestors thrice.

00:01:04.450 --> 00:01:06.310 align:middle line:90%
But once is honor.

00:01:06.310 --> 00:01:09.580 align:middle line:84%
I am trying to be worthy,
live to have learned so much

00:01:09.580 --> 00:01:13.540 align:middle line:84%
that God made Arab to know what
it is to be both black and Jew.

00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:16.450 align:middle line:84%
To be Arab is to beast
in order to be read.

00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:19.270 align:middle line:84%
Like scripture etched
calligraphy wooden metal,

00:01:19.270 --> 00:01:21.130 align:middle line:90%
I ask you to marvel at poetry.

00:01:21.130 --> 00:01:24.070 align:middle line:84%
They tried to make us
forget in Guantanamo.

00:01:24.070 --> 00:01:27.670 align:middle line:84%
And all unnamed time, they
will ask us of this time.

00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:29.620 align:middle line:90%
Come back again and again.

00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:31.720 align:middle line:84%
While we were out
the world has become

00:01:31.720 --> 00:01:33.580 align:middle line:90%
image we made in our own image.

00:01:33.580 --> 00:01:35.260 align:middle line:90%
And this is what we hunt.

00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:38.830 align:middle line:84%
Now I've caught my
reflection between incisors.

00:01:38.830 --> 00:01:43.240 align:middle line:84%
I, beasts of no nation,
who are only to be read.

00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:47.490 align:middle line:84%
Excuse me, now it
is time to be fed."