Potery: My Dream as a Child

 I still have dreams about

a room filled with toys

my mother always promised

we could have

if we were rich.

I still have dreams about

seeing the refugee camp

from a window on a plane

I still have dreams about

Seeing the animals

I learnt about in third grade:

elephant, giraffe, kangaroo,

and wolf.

I still have dreams about

running for miles

and miles with no border

blocking my feet,

with no unexploded bombs

scaring me off.

I still have dreams about

my favorite team playing

soccer on the beach,

me waiting for the ball

to come my way

and run away with it.

I dream still about

my grandfather, how much

I want to pick oranges

with him in Yaffa.

But my grandfather died

Yaffa is occupied, and oranges

no longer grow

in his weeping groves.

Toha, M. A (2024) Forest Noise, My Dream as a Child