A Tap on The Roof

By Hafsah Aneela Bashir

The warning scud skirts the roof

58 seconds to run

Slah Nuwasrah gathers his nephews

Nidal wide-eyed

Muhammad screams in his cot

The pregnant wife frozen to her bed

Corner of the quilt chewed wet by clamped teeth

48 seconds to run

Serrated edge of a warning phone call

Spreads panic

Hana frantically searches the yard

‘Where is Muhammad Malaka?’

Wheels of a little bike spin to a halt

38 seconds to run

Basema sips her coffee

Thirsty from today’s long fast

Husband, Mahmud has his feet up on the table – again

She lovingly chides him and says ‘Don’t, the children will do the same!’

28 seconds to run

Suha Abu Sada tries to force her legs to

move

Clutches of her wheelchair means she must stay put

She stares out the window,

fingers circling prayer beads

18 seconds to run

Argentina take on Holland

Muhammed, Ibrahim, Salim, Suleiman, Musa, Hamdi

watch the penalties – laughing

8 seconds to run

Naifa, 82, cries remembering how once she would have sprinted

Sprinted down the three floors of her storey

Cleared the 100 meters to a place where only her lungs would burn

From the acrid smoke

..5

…4

….3

…..2

……1

A small head amongst the garden, a house blown wide open like a faceless corpse, only legs dangle from a mangled bike, bloodied football shirts lying amongst the rubble, vultures on high hill tops clapping – laughing at the show

Operation Protective Edge

Obliterating Palestinians Dead

58 seconds to run

Hafsah Aneela Bashir is a poet and spoken word artist currently completing an MA in Postcolonial Literary and Culture at the University of Leeds. Her poetry has been published by Crocus Books in the anthology, ‘When Saira Met Sara’ bringing together Muslim and Jewish writers. This poem, A Tap on the Roof, is the winning Entry of Interpal’s Palestine Verses 2016 Poetry Competition. Read more of Hafsah’s work at www.hafsahaneelabashir.wordpress.com.