Table of Contents
I You Will Need to State the Reason for Your Visit
Upon Arrival 15
Grand mothering 16
Time Travel 17
Rules for Recitation 20
Immigrant 22
My English Teacher Tells Me 24
Damascus Dowry Chest 26
Dhayaa' 27
Circling the Dome of the Sky 28
Eating the Earth 29
Tu'burni 31
II Emerging From the Ancient Wound
Drowning 35
Mountain, Stone 36
Water & Salt 37
Running Orders 39
Abu Nasser 41
Intifada Portrait 43
Again and Again 45
Ruin 47
Blue Morning Music 49
Mount Sinjar 52
Newsworthy 54
Superpowers 58
Exceptional 60
It's Beirut out Here 61
III Amulets for the Journey
Almond Trilogy 65
National Security Advisory 68
Wasta 70
Instructions for Making Arabic Coffee 72
Amman Coiffure 74
My Mother Returns to Her Childhood Home 75
The Whole Point 77
Translation 79
Lighthouse 80
Relocation 81
Many Hats 84
Middle Village 85
Time Management 87
Copybooks 89
Linger 91
Cruising Altitude 93
Naming It 94
Subterranean 95
Notes 97