Shadi Eskandani

expansion

1.
rotting brick broke
tenement crack(ed) cement scent
acidic sweet amu incense
cubed sugar turmeric tongue
dissolves home   honeys
exile with hibiscus syrup swallows
everything lost
counts children and tasbih
finds ease in numbers   dua
dwelling
alleyways
in between her legs   promise
of passport
refuge
dollars
endurance on fleek
in these side streets   alhamdullilah
hustle holds this.

2.
there could never really be justice on stolen land.[1]

3.
glossy offers of movement macchiatos
relocating distressed incomes and dive bars
rising high hiding light and
truth.
a colonial cadence blossoms
adorns a neighbourhood in demolition
decades dug as dust stirs fury
releasing spirits and death stories
beneath seven layers of dirt
a ravaging
and she – a roadside banshee
knees pressed into pavement
lamenting young bodies.

[1] KRS-One lyrics from Sound of Da Police.