My father picked me up with one hand. Even I could touch God's throne. I laughed so hard. I laughed until I lost my voice. I call my father Mr. Rooster. He isn't a real rooster And, of course, I am not a little hen. Our identities prove that. Yes, we are human. In our Arabian Nights, The rooster has a prominent place. He is a storyteller Just like my father. As a little kid, My Mother hung me In her ears like a star. Shiny ones. She taught me how to weave A fairytale around The waist of the universe. We were playing drums During baking bread. Our dusty faces before our stove, The birds pecking our napes. Many delicious stories Float through our bodies. I am a verse hovering over the air. My mother's scent enfolds The horizon. Our rooster starts telling us How the ancient Queens and Kings Revealed the secret of embalming. We are in love with braiding Our grandmother's hair. Me, my father and my mother, Fighting against the pain. We dissolve our salty tears In a glass of sugar and wine.
Amirah Al Wassif’s poems have appeared in print and online publications including South Florida Poetry, Birmingham Arts Journal, Hawaii Review, The Meniscus, The Chiron Review, The Hunger, Writers Resist, Right Now, and others. Amirah’s poetry collection includes, For Those Who Don’t Know Chocolate (Poetic Justice Books & Arts, 2019) and a children’s book, The Cocoa Boy and Other Stories.
November Editor, Ronda Miller was state President of Kansas Authors Club, 2018 – 2019. Miller has three full-length books of poetry: Going Home: Poems from My Life, MoonStain, WaterSigns, and a chapbook, Winds of Time. Miller’s first children’s book, I Love the Child, was published 12/13/2020. The book’s illustrator is Katie Wiggins, a found cousin. I Love the Child won first place for The Children’s Book Award at the Kansas Authors Club State Convention, October 2020.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 
Ronda did an excellent job picking poems to share on Heartland this month. Both poems were poignant and sensitive. Great job Ronda.