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Write My Name<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSome parents in Gaza have resorted to writing their children\u2019s names on their legs to help identify them should either they or the children be killed.\u201d Write my name on my leg, Mama Write my name on my leg, Mama Write my name on my leg, Mama Write my name on my leg, Mama Write my name on my leg, Mama Write my name on my leg, Mama (By Zeina Azzam)<\/p>\n Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet and the author of Some Things Never Leave You<\/em> (TIger Bark Press, 2023) and Bayna Bayna, In-Between (The Poetry Box, 2021). She is the poet laureate of Alexandria, Virginia.<\/p>\n This poem first appeared in Vox Populi<\/a>. Thanks to Zeina Azzam for permission to share it here.<\/p>\n
\n\u2014CNN, 10\/22\/2023<\/em><\/p>\n
\nUse the black permanent marker
\nwith the ink that doesn\u2019t bleed
\nif it gets wet, the one that doesn\u2019t melt
\nif it\u2019s exposed to heat<\/p>\n
\nMake the lines thick and clear
\nAdd your special flourishes
\nso I can take comfort in seeing
\nmy mama\u2019s handwriting when I go to sleep<\/p>\n
\nand on the legs of my sisters and brothers
\nThis way we will belong together
\nThis way we will be known
\nas your children<\/p>\n
\nand please write your name
\nand Baba\u2019s name on your legs, too
\nso we will be remembered
\nas a family<\/p>\n
\nDon\u2019t add any numbers
\nlike when I was born or the address of our home
\nI don\u2019t want the world to list me as a number
\nI have a name and I am not a number<\/p>\n
\nWhen the bomb hits our house
\nWhen the walls crush our skulls and bones
\nour legs will tell our story, how
\nthere was nowhere for us to run<\/p>\n