Live Encounters Arab Women Poets & Writers June 2025
The Mask, poems by Nehad Zaki.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
The Mask
I know this face
it’s an old copy of me.
You can hear the clatter of its bones
being ground.
All that remains of it
is buried between millstones
in the same ancient cellars
my grandfather took as refuge
in his battle for survival.
The White Land
The sirens won’t reach your ears,
and the light in your room
could draw the shells—
as it pleases them.
A fruit fly
shatters your patch of sleep,
yet not a finger is harmed.
You defeat them by not existing,
and they defeat you in their imagination.
They don’t know
you’re still alive
in the belly of a whale.
And you’ve mastered the act of your death scene,
leaving your upper half
dangling off your bed
in the bedroom.
The Old Man of the Port
I cross the lake that separates my bed from reality
and step with my earthy feet.
I open my door to strangers—
in loneliness, they are homeowners.
Passersby,
friends you already know you’re bidding farewell.
And like an old man dwelling in the port,
I’ve perfected goodbyes
just as I’ve perfected meetings.
No forced affection,
no fake smile,
no tear hanging in the eye’s socket.
On the sidewalk among the bags,
you can test your grief every day
like testing coincidences.
And beware of what?.
We cry before each other
without feeling shame.
If only we were whales now…
When we become whales, my love,
when we swim in the endless ocean
and merge with the blue,
so no barriers remain between us and it.
When we dwell in the depths,
we no longer fear it,
and a kinship is born between us and the seabed.
When we discover the possibility of singing
without needing an orchestra,
and we chant with bubbles of air
our daily verses.
When water becomes our home, my love,
we will be happy.
© Nehad Zaki
Dr Salwa Gouda is an accomplished Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic affiliated with the English Language and Literature Department at Ain Shams University. Holding a PhD in English literature and criticism, Dr. Gouda pursued her education at both Ain Shams University and California State University, San Bernardino. She has authored several academic works, including Lectures in English Poetry and Introduction to Modern Literary Criticism, among others. Dr. Gouda also played a significant role in translating The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers, a comprehensive project featuring poets, philosophers, historians, and literary figures, conducted under the auspices of UNESCO. Recently, her poetry translations have been featured in a poetry anthology published by Alien Buddha Press in Arizona, USA. Her work has also appeared in numerous international literary magazines, further solidifying her contributions to the field of literary translation and criticism.
Nehad Zaki is an Egyptian poet, journalist, and writer, born in December 1987. Recognized for her evocative literary voice, she was awarded the Buland Al-Haidari Prize for Young Arab Poets in 2022. Beyond poetry, Zaki is a multidisciplinary artist with a passion for drawing, fine arts, film criticism, philosophy, and literature. Her intellectual curiosity spans the broader human sciences, enriching her creative and analytical work. In February 2022, she published her book “As If It Were the Resurrection”, a collection that further establishes her as a compelling voice in contemporary Arabic literature.