Mainstream WeeklyMy daughter
wouldn’t hurt a spider
That had nested
Between her bicycle handles
For two weeks
She waited
Until it left of its own accordIf you tear down the web I said
It will simply know
This isn’t a place to call home
And you’d get to go bikingShe said that’s how others
Become refugees isn’t it?
Source: The above poem is available online at Poetry Foundation it appeared in Alight (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). This poem is reproduced here for educational and non-commercial use
(Fady Joudah is a Palestinian-American based in Houston, Texas)