The Seventh WaveTHIS IS A BODY
by Farah Chamma & Myriam Nehmeh
This is a body
You can touch me
I am organic matter
moving constantly.
Sometimes you let me be.
I breathe and smell and rot.
Sometimes you interfere.
I break and burn in the sun,
but sometimes, you watch merun.
These are raindrops, or planets seen from a distance.
Do not mistake them for footsteps, or birthmarks.
These are real. Touch them.
Mistake them for errors, or scars.
I do not want to break
my face in half.I shy away from the dying
of desire.Tell me I am still
beautiful to you.
I will smile
until you do.
Farah Chamma is a Dubai-born Palestinian spoken word poet. She performs multilingual poetry, mainly in Arabic, English, and French.
Myriam Nehmeh is a Lebanese photographer based in Dubai. She runs mashrou3_suwar, a photography project on Facebook and Instagram.