Dedication
She asks me why I don’t write in Arabic.
“You’re Arab, no?”
“Eh, mbala … but …” I try, more question than statement.
“I am … but …” Always a disclaimer.
What I want to say,
“What does it mean to exist in in-betweens? Shame, self-doubt, siesta?”
So shukran, Zeina, for awakening the languages inside me. I am learning.
And like most things in hijra, this is ongoing.
These stories are living,
and no one can occupy that.
To rebuilding languages, and rebuilding the cities inside us.
Sara M Saleh is a writer, poet of Palestinian, Egyptian, and Lebanese heritage, who has shared her work on stages from Brooklyn to Bangalore. Her work has been published in English and Arabic across dozens of literary platforms, and she has led workshops in countless classrooms, community spaces, and festivals around the world. Sara’s debut novel,
Songs for the Dead and the Living (Affirm, 2023), and her poetry collection,
The Flirtation of Girls (UQP, 2023), have received multiple prizes and shortlistings between them, and she has been awarded various honours over the years. Sara made history in Australia as the first poet to win both the prestigious Peter Porter and the Judith Wright Poetry Prizes (2020-21).
