2020 POETRY CONTEST RUNNER UP

NORTHEAST OHIO SPOTLIGHT

For the girl who wishes she could be less different

Poetry by ​Nardine Taleb

I must admit to you that on many days,
I thought of taking off the hijab permanently,
 
only to realize that nothing will hide the way
my skin bakes and sizzles, even under a polite Ohio sun.
 
Egypt comes out of me one way or another, like a hiccup,
and at eighteen, I saw myself as a pearl-white building
 
dirtied yellow by a sandstorm. But my God,
how Time forces sense upon you.
 
Lift your chin up, girl, and see yourself
the way you see the stars.
 
When God made you, He had just finished making the sun;
His fingers still caked with powder of gold

Nardine Taleb

Nardine is a Cleveland native and graduate of Case Western Reserve University, where she received the Finley Foster/Emily M Hills Poetry Award for best poem (2015) and the Edith Garber Krotinger Prize for best short story (2017) from the Department of English. She was a finalist in Gordon Square Review's prose contest last fall for her story titled "Soad Hosny." Her work covers identity, culture, religion, and the grappling of all three. She's often seen with a latte in hand.