Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2026.
Love, poems by Nehad Zaki.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
Love
Love is simple.
It’s like watching television,
mugs of tea warming our hands after supper.
A quiet smile of contentment,
a soft kiss on the cheek, not the lips.
Just warmth.
Two colors blending into a third
neither one overpowers the other.
A peaceful stillness.
A shared need to turn down the world’s noise
and sit together in the quiet.
But love is also a backyard barbecue,
your heart laid out like a feast for the hungry.
Scorched meat.
A stranger biting down on a piece of your soul.
Jarring sounds,
like teeth grinding in the dark.
A wind that tears the roof clean off,
leaving you shivering and exposed.
Disney
He built a castle by the sea,
stone by stone,
carrying each one in his hands.
Yesterday, he drew up the plans in full:
high walls to surround the city,
to keep out the vampires, the vultures, the beasts,
barbed wire coiled tight around them,
hiding invisible monsters from the world below.
From the castle balcony,
the princess will keep watch,
waiting for the devil she once loved
to cross through eternity and the wars of the end times,
so she can let down her golden hair.
Scar Tissue
Everyone here has gotten good at pretending.
They see love,
and put on the feeling like a perfect costume.
I see love in the mirror, too.
He lifts a hand,
so I lift mine.
We wave at each other.
Air kisses,
scar tissue on the face.
A Moment Like This
The stars line up on the bedroom ceiling.
Infatuation is born in a moment like this.
An eye that can’t stop looking into another eye,
an eye that died a thousand times
before desire whispered it back to life,
still hungry for the sight.
You release a sigh, and love mixes with the air,
which grows heavy,
has weight and scent.
© 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.