House of Amal
Guestroom Artist
October, 2020
Shymaa Alatrash
Born in Palestine, Bethlaham Shymaa moved to Canada when she was four years old. Coming from and existing in two different worlds, Shymma has had to grapple with identity and what it means to her. “Living in a western place, I’ve struggled with my personal identity and as a Canadian and Palestinian. As I got older, I learned to take the good things in both. ”
Shymaa started her writing journey trough journaling which evolved into poetry. Her writing is honest and speaks to the human experience. She explores her personal struggles with identity, faith and emotions. House of Amal is proud to promote Shymaa’s poetry and hopes you enjoy her piece below.
There are some days
where I can’t wake up.
I snooze snooze snooze the alarm until
my phone too- gives up one me.
my phone stops trying to wake up a dead soul.
There are other days
where I am wide awake
my eyes refuse to close
my mind refuses to quiet down
in those days-
I wonder why my body is so scared of
falling asleep.
Maybe it stays awake to find some purpose
in a purposeless life.
There are some days
where I eat so much until my stomach bursts
until my body begs me to stop feeding it
with things that will kill it even more.
But there are other days
where I eat nothing at all
my body slowly begs my organs to
quit.
I don’t want to
I don’t want to
but how do you walk
when there is no direction?
How do you know where to go
if there is no path?
I begged
my phone
my body
my mind
anyone anyone
to give me a reason to stay.
But when I ask
when I beg
they reply with silence.
Silence.
The sound of a tomb-
There are some days
where I think so much
my mind blurs
my head feels dizzy. I-
delete this message.
delete this message.
delete this message.