Bottoms Up
By Palestinian Poet Rasha Mansour
Narrated by Anne Chatfield
In this country I can have a name, not a history.
In this country
The cat can meow.
The frog can croak.
The snake can hiss.
The donkey can bray.
I can be a giraffe without a sound!
In this country I can pray, but to the directions of the government. God is everywhere!
In this country,
I can dance:
Waltz
Tango
Samba
Salsa
Flamenco
Capoeira.
Birds may also dance from pain.
In this country,
I can be Guevara
Kafka
Mussolini
Lorca
Chopin.
Dreams have no sky.
In this country I can be Marilyn Monroe
Van Gogh
Cleopatra
Hemingway
Dalida
Virginia Woolf.
Democracy is to elect your own death.
In this country, only two ways to survive:
either on the edge of insanity
Or Bottoms up!
Publisher’s Note:
I received word from Palestinian Poet Rasha Mansour that after three months of struggling to recover from Covid-19,
she now feels strong enough to write her next poem “My Corona”. Welcome back to health, Rasha.
Please take care of yourself. I look forward to publishing your “My Corona”.
~ LeRoy Chatfield