Above Neruda’s grave, a sky crammed with shadowy fish A cured spirit The sun is the hand of pride Exactly like me. A bruised apple is not all bad I walked barefoot on hot road, on glass and on stones.. I conquered the road Rainbow always apologize for angry skies Salt, sweet, tears Boats sink if soil gets inside We are finally home
MOUNA OUAFIQ is a Moroccan poet, short story writer, colomnist and photographer from Rabat. She has worked as a culture editor for a number of Arab periodicals and newspapers and one of the first journalists to work in electronic journalism. Together with other young journalists in Egypt, she founded the International Federation of Electronic Journalism. Mouna has received many prizes and awards including the BBC Radio Award, the Kuwaiti Arab Magazine Award and the Jazan Club Prize for Saudi Literature. Her work has been anthologised in several collections in the Arab world. Mint, Wax and Death and Lo3ab.com, her two short story collections were published by two Cairo publishing houses, Dar Sharqiyyat and Dar Afaq respectively. She has also published three collections of poetry, Brown Vanilla, by Dar Azmina in Jordan, Red Neon by Dar Alnahda in Beirut and Sharp Edge of a Half Broken Plate by Dar Rawafid in Cairo. She’s currently working on a poetry collection, From A Female Chimpanze to Darwin. This is the first time her work has been published in English.