Live Encounters Arab Poetry & Writing July 2026
A Colorful Betrayal, poems by Momen Samir.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
A Colorful Betrayal
My grandfather was a photographer.
And I was terrified of his friendship with the darkness,
and of his eye that would widen and widen until we were stripped bare,
and our lies would tumble from us onto the stairs.
But despite this, I never tired of imagining
that I was a great photographer, capturing images of the soul
when it would betray my father
and slip away from the collar of his robe
and when it would hide atop buildings
whenever the boy caught a laugh
in her closed eyes.
even when it wandered through the war
then gasped and drifted away quietly
to pant beneath a desperate tank.
I am the genius photographer
who seizes the grief of the rose by its neck
whenever the princess dies in the tale.
and who nods in satisfaction
when the train’s vision clears
and the pirate’s limbs take flight.
But the years passed me by as I lay in my bed…
I became an old man who owns nothing but two eyes
that only widen enough for illusions to strip bare on the wall.
So I gathered what remained of my resolve,
brought out my grandfather’s camera,
greeted the dust that has always bent over us with tenderness,
and took a brilliant photograph… black,
and placed my life inside it,
and placed all that I desire.
The Excavation of My Soul
and My Shadow
(1)
The hero says lightning struck him twice in his life.
Once while burying fleeing footsteps at the village’s edge—
and so he became a truly radiant man, a shining star among
the great and the mad.
And once it struck his heart, so a halo sprouted from his horn
and intercepted tender ships and angry memories.
The truth is there were many other times,
but the director remembered he feared suffocating events,
so they passed without incident.
(2)
Stories and tales walk upon their own skin,
their saliva a demon that snatches souls…
Their shadow always loves to disappear from us into the forest,
and their heart is a flood and a mountain that protects us from the water…
I will tell her in the morning: you are all my ancestors,
then I will open my eyes and tremble.
(3)
This mushroom in the garden.
turns poisonous whenever you peel your skin from my clothes.
and becomes a bird again… whenever you twirl your pinky finger
and feel for my soul.
(4)
My friends, I confess I am a coward.
I failed to save any soul among you
when you fell from my pockets and from my eyes into the lake…
Since that day I have been naked and my heart astray.
But the bird recently whispered to me that I am a free feather…
with no fingerprints on my soul,
no gasps in my throat,
no memory weighing down my shadow whenever I run.
(5)
Whenever I die, my soul turns into a butterfly
running toward the light to burn
but it hesitates for a minute or two
that is my entire life.
We Shine in the Nights
There is always broken glass
beside walls and fences
its edges jagged
and ready to scratch and slaughter.
This glass grieves sincerely
if children pass by it or kick it, for instance.
The mad do not realize that in doing so,
they provoke the energy of evil within it.
And when evening falls,
the brutal shard will carve its story
into someone’s skin,
then take a deep breath and sing: “I am the only one here…”
so its tears may distill into raw light
perhaps a ship will catch the signal
and remind the glass eyes of fish
that they have brothers
melting in this world,
and flying like dust.
© Momen Samir
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.
Momen Samir (1975) is an Egyptian poet and writer, belonging to the modern Egyptian poetry generation of the nineties. He has published 34 books encompassing poetry, theater, critical articles, translations, and autobiographies.