National Poetry Month Day 10: Nathalie Handal

 

 

 

American Love Story in Rome

I had a dream I left the other side
of myself in New York City,
I have to go back to get it
but I can’t move. I wonder
if I shut the windows, left flowers
to wilt, left food to decay, left my
heart on the Queensboro Bridge.
I feel my mind blow open.
I run to the Tiber, chasing chaos
the way a heart does after its broken,
seeing my favorite song sinking
the way the dying does for days.
I don’t know what it all means.
Maybe that’s how the world walks into us,
with worry. Or maybe that’s how it goes,
like a boat coming from the future
to take us away.

 

 

***
Author photo by Andrea Salerno

Share
Tweet
Share

Nathalie Handal is the author of 10 award-winning books, most recently, Life in a Country Album, winner of the Palestine Book Award, and The Republics, winner of the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing and the Arab American Book Award. Her nonfiction has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Nation, among others. Handal is the recipient of awards from the PEN Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, Fondazione di Venezia, and the Africa Institute, among others. She is professor at New York University, and writes the column, “The City and the Writer” for Words without Borders.

You May Also Like

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Get your Rumpus merch in our online store. Subscribe to receive Letters in the Mail from authors, join us by becoming a monthly or yearly Member and/or make a tax-deductible donation here.

We support independent bookstores! 10% of sales on any titles purchased through our Bookshop.org page or affiliate links benefits the magazine.

The Rumpus in your Inbox!
The Rumpus
© 2023, The Rumpus.

The Rumpus needs your help. We need to raise $25,000 $3,100 to fill our funding gap for 2024.

Our home base is Asheville, NC and Hurricane Helene severely impacted our ability to host events, launch new initiatives, and caused other significant financial setbacks this fall.

Can you support us at any level by Dec. 31? Every dollar counts and is a sign that our readers collectively value creative labor and independent publishing.

YEs, I'd like to help!

Sign up for the weekly Rumpus

Once a week, we'll send you a roundup of what's new on the magazine, invites to upcoming events, open calls for submissions, and more!

Total
0
Share