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Poem :: David Rabeeya

Moments and Memories
by Dr. David Rabeeya
Featured on Poetica Magazine, February 2008

I. In Iraq

My placenta has tasted the aroma of my mother’s Mesopotamian cardamon
Its aroma has been planted in me in the Baghdadi Bedouim market
My nostrils still breathe its mist in my everyday coffee and tea
When she separated its shells from its grains
I have witnessed the splitting of my world

II. In Israel
The seeds have traveled in my pockets to the Promised Land
It has dried and withered in the sun
No more rivers to quench
My appetite for the yellow cardamon
Its black seed has turned brown and pale

III. In America
I saw it in a book of Iraqi recipes
Shinning in nearby supermarkets in glossy jars
It was idle, almost quiet to its grain

IV. Now
Only leaves of cardamon are lying now on my suburban shelf
And I can easily read traces of my records in my empty coffee

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