{"id":151924,"date":"2021-04-14T19:23:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=151924"},"modified":"2021-04-14T19:23:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:23:19","slug":"2021-whiting-awards-marwa-helal-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/04\/14\/2021-whiting-awards-marwa-helal-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Marwa Helal, Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Marwa Helal. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan.<\/p><\/div>\n

Marwa Helal is the author of Invasive species<\/em> (Nightboat Books, 2019), Ante body<\/em> (Nightboat Books, forthcoming 2022), and winner of BOMB Magazine<\/em>\u2019s Biennial 2016 Poetry Contest. She is also the author of the chapbook I AM MADE TO LEAVE I AM<\/em> MADE TO RETURN<\/em> (No, Dear\/Small Anchor Press, 2017) and has been awarded fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, NYFA<\/small>\/NYSCA<\/small>, Poets House, and Cave Canem, among others. Born in Al Mansurah, Egypt, she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Two poems from <\/em>Invasive species:<\/p>\n

\u201cpoem to be read from right to left\u201d<\/p>\n

language first my learned i
\nsecond
\nsee see
\nfor mistaken am i native
\ngo i everywhere
\n*moon and sun to
\n\u0644 letter the like
\nlamb like sound
\nfox like think but <\/p>\n

recurring this of me reminds
\nchased being dream
\ncircle a in
\nduck duck like
\ngoose
\nno were there but
\nchildren other
\nof tired got i
\nnumber the counting
\nwords english of
\nto takes it
\nin 1 capture
\nanother<\/p>\n

\/\/<\/p>\n

*\u0634\u0645\u0633\u064a\u0629 \u0648 \u0642\u0645\u0631\u064a\u0629<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\u201cpoem for palm pressed upon pane\u201d<\/p>\n

i am in the backseat. my father driving. from mansurah to cairo. delta to desert,
\nheliopolis. a path he has traveled years before i was born. the road has changed but the
\nfields are same same. biblical green.
\n………………………………<\/span>hazy green, when i say: this is the most beautiful tree i have ever
\nseen. and he says, all the trees in masr are the most beautiful. this is how i learn to see.
\n…………..<\/span>we planted pines. four in a row. for privacy. for property value. that was
\n…………..<\/span>ohio. before new mexico. before, i would make masr
\n…………………….<\/span>my own. but after my mother tells me to stop…….<\/span>asking her what is wrong
\nwhenever i see her staring
\nout of the living room window. this is how trauma learns to behave. how i learn to push
\nagainst the page. i always give hatem the inside seat.
\nso he can sleep. on the bus.…………………………………..<\/span>his warm cheek against the cold
\nwindow. when i am old enough to be aware of leaving. it is raining hard.
\n…………………………………………<\/span>5000 miles away, there is a palm. in a pot. its leaves
\npressed. skinny neck bent. a plant seeking light in an animal kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read two poems by Marwa Helal, winner of a 2021 Whiting Award for poetry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68285],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whiting-awards-2021"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhiting Awards 2021: Marwa Helal, Poetry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read two poems by Marwa Helal, winner of a 2021 Whiting Award for poetry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/04\/14\/2021-whiting-awards-marwa-helal-poetry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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