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Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2022: In Copenhagen
by Lisa Mulleneaux
The poem is based on my field work with refugees who arrive in Italy and are assigned to various EU countries. Those, of course, are the lucky ones, the majority of the new arrivals are deported. I have interviewed refugees in Catania and Rome.
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2022: In Copenhagen
“Do you see me?” Adie asks me,
“because no one else does.”
We exist only for each other,
Syria to Italy to Denmark, where
we can never get warm enough
in our semi-heated rooms—sink,
shared toilet in the hallway,
meals an extra 500 kroner a week.
Soon I will be fish-belly white
like my grandfather in Damascus, who
became thinner and paler until
his lips were cracks, his skin icy,
his scalp hairless, and his wrists
like a gull’s broken wings.
I had your picture in my wallet,
Fatim. Seeing it reminded me
of our old life, but they took it
in Lampedusa. I begged them:
“Keep the money. Just give me
the photos of my family.”
One day I will return to that place
and find what they took.
There was no need:
we had already lost so much.
Jamal didn’t make the crossing.
Soaked with seawater and gasoline
his skin peeled off, his screams
nearly as loud as the planes
bringing tourists to the beach.
A special thank you to our WordView 2021 poets.
Chair of the Judging Panel, Joelle Taylor, says: "We were thrilled by the range and scope of the poetry and techniques explored throughout the wide submissions. I have said before that to write a poem is an act of resistance but to then perform it as well is a revolution. It takes a bravery to face the page, and a further one to stand by your words. While we’ve all become more used to filming ourselves over the pandemic, all of us were deeply aware of that courage.
Often when on a judging panel we find ourselves faced with impossible decisions. If you can imagine, after sifting, it’s as though a hundred people have crossed the finish line at precisely the same moment but there are only three medals. How do we come to these decisions? Through the objective unpicking of the poems, through our individual passions, through a consideration of narratives, especially those lesser heard. We come to it through uneasy negotiation and through heart, and above all through our shared love and understanding of the possibilities of poetry.
Our honest applause goes to all who submitted, and I hope you can hear it.
Congratulations to those we selected. We hope to see you all again soon."
See the collectionWatch the full Wordview 2022 playlist