August 4th, Beirut

Photo by Rashid Khreiss on Upsplash

Have you ever seen a sea of glass?

Have you ever smelled a city imploding?

It smells like fear.

Have you ever tasted Beirut?

An overstuffed pig with death ripe in its mouth.

We cry in all shades of blue here.

I touched her pale face,

the gleaming green glass lodged in her skin

like shy doves.

A stitch on my face for every promise you’ve broken, honey.

We’re always out of money.

The city is sick, honey.

We just keep sinking down

and down

and down.

Then drown.

Teased by death,

his white shirt turned red.

At the hospital where patients piled up like magazines in a cold waiting room.

Counting the fragments of glass,

the reasons not to migrate.

The city wants me dead,

it’s all doom it’s all doom.

If you only thump the lizard’s tail with a broom,

what’s left of him will slither and hide

in the pothole on the street.

He’ll feast on the carrots your mother grew.

Then, he’ll run for government.

And place 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate next to

a sleeping toddler.

—

The 2020 Beirut Port explosion claimed the lives of 218 civilians, injured over 7,000 people and left 300,000 homeless. It happened when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in the heart of the city had detonated.

Until today, there are no answers on who was truly responsible, and the families of victims are still hoping for justice.