Poetry & Short Fiction / 11.2022 / Issue 15

To a Suburbia Called Ramallah

Adele Jarrar

A poem by Adele Jarrar.

“Duck”, 2012, by Lama AlTakruri, a public art intervention in Ramallah

Adele Jarrar (PS, 1992) is an independent curator, cultural worker, and researcher with a focus on self-organization, artist-run initiatives, and alternative modes of cultural production. Adele worked as a curator, researcher, and writer with the collective The Question of Funding at Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, and was a resident at the Unidee Residency Summer 2022: Sustaining Embedded Arts Practice in Biella, Italy.

Shatterd by by bullets; shiny glass facades
Shitty coffee poured in 
environment-friendly cups.
Sports cars on crumbling asphalt
And, high-end brands walking in a seiged air

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A neoliberal dream
A neoliberal lie
Luxury is what it seems
Peripherals are where everything dies

.. . .  .   .        .    . o        .     .  O      .        .  . O

Margins are where everything is born
After when,
wishes are torn
But the only real happening is
a thrown stone.

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Every time it 
Hits
a combat helmet
A poppy 
grows
Every time it
bangs
a watch tower
An Olive Grove
Blooms
Every time it
shatters
a corporate 
window
A cactus fruit
Mellows

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                              o   * o *
o . . . .O ..  …   O. )  )  ~)  ~)~