On the Night of Invasion
By Micaela Kaibni Raen
Identifies with the nation of Palestine
on the night of invasion...
they sew bodies together
stabbing with needles of bone
our woven bodies becoming their flag
on the night of invasion...
drones scan faces, Palestinian eyes, a charting of land
our children their plotted cartography
parents shelter children with arms’ embrace
as bodies smolder beneath buildings
and prayer ascends in the ashen fog
a sacred ritual to the moon
an ancient invocation
a chant to God
a promise to the stars
a sacred sumud
...honoring our martyrs, repeating...repeating...repeating...
on the night of invasion...
with guns for eyes, they target breath in green darkness
tanks bring machine-guns pointing outward
children’s fists of rock are not enough
our homes are mapped by blood rain, a crimson compass
on the night of invasion...
smoke chokes out sky
stealing air
so
we breathe in
faith and fear, a sour soot
we exhale
anger and sorrow, land’s bitter embers
until we speak smoke from our mouths
Micaela Kaibni Raen is a Palestinian American queer femme-dyke, mother, multi-genre writer, visual artist, and activist. She grew up in the Little Arabia community in California and graduated from Chapman University. During that time, she became a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc., ACT UP! and Queer Nation. She has been a community organizer for over 35 years in North America and is committed to international human rights, especially that of Indigenous and displaced peoples, women, and LGBTIQ communities. Her work appears in Bint el Nas; Mizna; Koukash Review; Rowayat Literary Journal; Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art & Thought; The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology; A Different Path: An Anthology of the Radius of Arab American Writers; El Ghourabaa: A Queer and Trans Arab and Arabophone Anthology; and Ask the Night for a Dream: Palestinian Writing from the Diaspora.