Five poems*

 Abdulkhalik Kitan

 Translated by:Khaloud Almuttalibi

 1

*Admission*

Because you are as beautiful as a Babylonian Goddess

I gazed a lot at you

Especially at your shoulder

If your hands were carrying a pickaxe

I would have handed you my head

 *2*

 *An invasion*

I bow in reverence

to you

You who are heavily armed with the colours

Drawing uncountable balloons

And release them according to the occasion

I say

I bow

While my back is subjected to the worst invasion in

history

 3

*There is hope*

With plenty of hope

I gaze at the pavements

What would we have done if the cities have no pavements

*4*

*A disaster*

He insisted on carrying the river on his back

And went on his own feet to the top of the mountain where the volcano is

He stretched his trembling hand to the sky to pick a star

And cultivated the desert of its days, in hope of happiness

He exposed his own private parts before a group of homosexuals

He wrote about the oppression of the subjects by the Sultan

He abandoned his beloved mother without good reason

He is an animal, therefore he will not be pitied by anyone

 *5*

*My Foot*

I would not dare to amputate my foot

How else would I be able to read this poem

I will use it

And make it trample on my days

 *****

 *Amman*

2000

The Paupers of Baghdad