Mama

IMAN ALZAGHARI

Illustration by Manar Almahmood (@postcardtoself).

It’s just us now,

holding on to each other tighter,

tucking ourselves into this love.

A mama, her daughter, her daughter’s daughters,

cooking together,

an act of worship.

Food to sustain the body and the soul.

Sundays spent stirring and spicing over sinks and stoves.

Familiar rituals in new routines,

needed to survive the absence left behind.

Meals in these moments are memory and history incarnate.

A meal from your hands, her hands, my hands

is self-preservation,

is communion,

is love.

ماما 

،نبقى نحن وحدنا الآن

،نتمسك ببعضنا

.نضم أرواحنا بهذا الحب

،أم، بنتها، وبنت بنتها

،يطبخن معا

عبادة

.لتغذية الجسد والروح

نمضي كل أحد

عند الطاولة نُتَبِل الطعام

عادات معروفة موضوعة في  أنماط مبتكرة

نحتاجها لنملأ الفراغ الذي تُرِكنا فيه

تتجسد الذاكرة والتاريخ في هذه أكلات

أكله من يَدَيّكِ، يَدَيّها، يَداي

هي الحفاظ على النفس

هي التعاون

هي الحب

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Iman Alzaghari is a Muslim Palestinian American from California. She holds bachelor's degrees in Arabic and Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Iman is an avid reader, and is passionate about language. She runs @arabicnerd, an Instagram account focused on Arabic and Arab-American literature.

Edited by Engy Ibrahim and Shayma AlHarthi