This Is Why We Dance
Home in my memory is a green, worn-out couch
And my grandmother in every poem
Every jasmine picked off the backlash, every backlash picked off the tear gas
And tear gas healed with yogurt and onions
With resilience, with women chanting and drumming on pots and pans
With goddamns and hasbunallah's
Motherfuckers rock tanks but we know stones
2008, the Gaza bombings
My ritual of watching T.V., ran between the grieving and Egyptian belly dance music
And I fluctuated between hatred and adoration
Stacking and hoarding Darwish's reasons to live
Sometimes believing them, sometimes dipping my bread in indulgence
Knowing a child is breadless, in Khan Yunis, dipped in a roof's rubble
If you ask me where I'm from, it's not a one-word answer
Be prepared and seated, breathless and geared
And if hearing about a world other than yours makes you uncomfortable
Well, drink the sea, cut off your ears
Blow another bubble to bubble your bubble and the pretence
Blow another town of bodies in the name of fear
This is why we dance
My father told me, "Anger is a luxury that we cannot afford"
Be composed, calm, still, laugh when they ask you
Smile when they talk, answer them, educate them
This is why we dance
Because if I speak, I'm dangerous
You open your mouth, you raise your eyebrows, you point your fingers
This is why we dance
Wounded feet but the rhythm remains
This is why we dance
Because no matter how many adjectives you stack upon my shoulders, I define me
Now, this is why we dance
Because even my poetry isn't free
Now can you please just tell me
Why is anger, even anger, a luxury to me?
And my grandmother in every poem
Every jasmine picked off the backlash, every backlash picked off the tear gas
And tear gas healed with yogurt and onions
With resilience, with women chanting and drumming on pots and pans
With goddamns and hasbunallah's
Motherfuckers rock tanks but we know stones
2008, the Gaza bombings
My ritual of watching T.V., ran between the grieving and Egyptian belly dance music
And I fluctuated between hatred and adoration
Stacking and hoarding Darwish's reasons to live
Sometimes believing them, sometimes dipping my bread in indulgence
Knowing a child is breadless, in Khan Yunis, dipped in a roof's rubble
If you ask me where I'm from, it's not a one-word answer
Be prepared and seated, breathless and geared
And if hearing about a world other than yours makes you uncomfortable
Well, drink the sea, cut off your ears
Blow another bubble to bubble your bubble and the pretence
Blow another town of bodies in the name of fear
This is why we dance
My father told me, "Anger is a luxury that we cannot afford"
Be composed, calm, still, laugh when they ask you
Smile when they talk, answer them, educate them
This is why we dance
Because if I speak, I'm dangerous
You open your mouth, you raise your eyebrows, you point your fingers
This is why we dance
Wounded feet but the rhythm remains
This is why we dance
Because no matter how many adjectives you stack upon my shoulders, I define me
Now, this is why we dance
Because even my poetry isn't free
Now can you please just tell me
Why is anger, even anger, a luxury to me?
Credits
Writer(s): Mohammad Al-kurd
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
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