Ami

“You become who you socialise with, so I am careful when choosing company.”
― Jenny Mustard, What a Time to Be Alive

“Normalisation breeds acceptance, not only in society but in ourselves.”
― Laura Bates, Fix the System, Not the Women

“As I grew older, my very existence seemed to be enough to enrage her.”
― Arundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me

“What is home:
It is the shade of trees on my way to school before they were uprooted.
It is my grandparents’ black-and-white wedding photo before the walls crumbled.
It is my uncle’s prayer rug, where dozens of ants slept on wintry nights, before it was looted and put in a museum.
It is the oven my mother used to bake bread and roast chicken before a bomb reduced our house to ashes.
It is the cafe where I watched football matches and played-

My child stops me: Can a four-letter word hold all of these?”
― Mosab Abu Toha, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza