issue 1
Koukash Review
2022
Rubble: poem for turkey/syria
Bayan Founas
72
hours later
and rescue workers
are still pulling survivors out the rubble
a 10-day old baby blinking back his big blue eyes
batting dusty lashes allahu akbar / god is great
a pregnant mother and her son clutching one another
from the same broken bed allahu akbar / god is great
a family of 3 separated by 10 feet of stone allahu akbar / god is great
a baby is born under the rubble allahu akbar / god is great
ululations of allahu akbar vibrate across the rubble and the world
miracles of survival are testaments to god’s greatness / his creation and destruction are reminders that there is no god but allah and to him we shall return inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un
6 days later and rescue workers are still pulling survivors out the rubble
a 6-month-old embalmed in dust smiling as he’s pulled from the
rubble
a father furiously pounds his fists against the rubble
calling frantically for his wife and children
placing his ear on what was once his home
desperately listening for any sign of life
he pulls a dusted red shoe that fits in his palm
and clutches it against his failing heart
and wails for what was to be and what was no longer
he pounds and beats his fists helplessly against the rubble
tears cleansing his dusty face
for what’s a man to do when his legacy is wiped off the earth
a man is hopeless when he can’t protect his own
his sole promise as protector
his beating and cries get quieter and
quieter like the muffled cries under rubble
getting quieter and quieter
Bayan Founas
Bayan Founas is a high school English teacher and teaching artist in Detroit schools who centers her ateaching methods in culturally responsive and restorative justice pedagogies. Born in Hamtramck, MI to Algerian immigrants, she writes on themes of home, diaspora, belonging, and womanhood. She received her BA and MA from the University of Michigan and a Kresge Gilda Snowden award in Literary Arts. She published two poetry collections: Diary of a Daughter in Diaspora and HERE TO STAY: The Literary Mixtape (paired with a spoken word album). She is published in Brittle Paper. Follow her journey @bayanthepoet and www.bayanfounas.com.