I recommend to you the poems of Dr. Mohja Kahf, whom you may know as the author of “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears.” Poet and scholar Mohja Kahf was born in Damascus, Syria. Her family moved to the United States in 1971, and Kahf grew up in the Midwest. She earned a PhD in comparative literature from Rutgers University. Her remarkable poetry books are:
- E-mails from Scheherazad (2003)
- Hagar Poems (2016)
- My Lover Feeds Me Grapefruit (2020)
We read Kahf’s poem “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet…” every term in the weekly classes I lead in Santa Clara County jail. It is one of the most popular selections in our Transforming Literature of the Bible course at Elmwood Jail. We read the poem to complement the story of Joseph in Egypt, as part of a discussion on being a bridge between cultures (Genesis 37-50). Volunteer jail chaplains are locked out now because of the Covid-19 quarantine but I look forward to returning. I miss my students!
In Hagar Poems, I found this one which seems very appropriate for the conversations our country is having now:
“Most Wanted”
by Mohja KahfWarning: God has slipped the noose.
We must confirm the worst
of our righteous fears –
God has escaped the mosque,
the synagogue, the church
where we’ve locked up God for years.God is on the loose.
Henceforth beware:
You may find God in heathen beauty.
You may stumble upon God unaware.
Take appropriate measures:
You may have to behave
as if each human being
could reflect God’s face.
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thank you very much for this — I plan to use it as prayer for our Peace & Social Justice class. There’s a nice video of the poet reading, as well. https://youtu.be/Sql8svr3wM0
Thank you for this! So happy to have stumbled across it today!