I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice

By Weam Namou

A collection of 76 poems which had been previously published in national and international journals.

“Sometimes, a book of poems transcends the form and becomes pure experience. I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice is a startling call to memory and mourning for an Iraq that is “dead,” an ululation for all that is lost in war after war after war. In these poems, Iraqis are divided not by politics but by location and circumstance; those fortunate enough to live in America are wracked with guilt, and those left behind are trapped indoors. Namou interrogates this split within herself, with poem after poem an attempt to reconcile memories of a life in Baghdad with the safety of suburban American life and see past the divisions of history to an impossibly fraught future. I Am a Mute Iraqi is a troubling, necessary collection of poems urging us to recognize, and never forget, the personal and cultural consequences of war.”
Trish Harris, founding editor of the Pea River Journal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Weam Namou
• Release date: Feb 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9780975295687

Weam Namou

Born in Baghdad, Iraq as a minority Christian, Weam Namou came to American at age ten. She is an award-winning author of eight books - three novels, one poetry book, and the Iraqi Americans Book Series. Her recent memoir series about her experience with Lynn Andrews' 4-year shamanism school reveals how the school's ancient teachings helped her heal old wounds and manifest her dreams. Namou received her Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Wayne State University. She studied fiction and memoir through various correspondence courses, poetry in Prague and screenwriting at MPI (Motion Picture Institute of Michigan). Her essays, articles and poetry have appeared in national and international publications. As the co-founder and president of IAA (Iraqi Artists Association), Namou has given poetry readings, lectures and workshops at numerous cultural and educational institutions. In 2012, she won a lifetime achievement award from E'Rootha. Her rich Babylonian heritage, her educational background, her apprenticeships with spiritual masters, and her travels around the world have helped her make connections with people from different walks of life - Spanish, Italian, Greek, French, British, Portuguese, Czechs, Israeli, Mexican, Moroccan, Tunisian, Jordanian... the list goes on. Namou hopes to pass on her cultural and spiritual teachings to her readers.

Book preview

I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice

Weam Namou

HERMiZ

PUBLiSHING

Hermiz Publishing, Inc.

Copyright © 2015 by Weam Namou

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

2 0 1 5 9 0 7 1 3 7

Namou, Weam

I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice (poetry)

ISBN 978–0-9752956–8-7 (eBook)

First Edition

Published in the United States of America by:

Hermiz Publishing, Inc.

Sterling Heights, MI

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I: War, War, War

The Midwife of Fallujah

Miriam

I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice

The Sky is Brown

The Guilt I Feel

My Condolences, Iraq . . .

American and Iraqi Soldiers Unite in a Dance

Operation Iraqi Freedom Enslaved Me

The Dogs in America Live Better Than Us

The Wild Adventures of War

Hitting on Girls Overseas

Bread and Blood in the Streets of Baghdad

Dear Iraq

The Asian Cup

PART II: Countries, Memories and Veils

That Line

America

Remembering a Childhood in Iraq

Love, Justice, and Turtle Soup

What Stands Between Us

The Veil of Vanilla and Fire

Criticizing Trees

Punctuations and Montage

Tangerines, Shipped to Europe from Tangier

The Big Guys

From Baghdad to Times Square

That to That

My Beautiful Barbaric Land

Fleeing Saddam

Dressing Differently

An Unhealthy Relationship

PART III: Life and Family

My Brother’s Wife

Pomegranate

It Was Supposed to Rain Today

A Mentor

The Bead Ceremony

I am a writer

Talking to My Birth Country

Why She’s Unaware

My Company

Progress Trap

Expecting

What I Remember About Paris

A Letter Addressed to Me

Earthenware

The Five of Us

Our Bride

My Power Song

My Sunshine’s First Day of School

A Waitress and a Nun

What a Morning

A Season’s Breeze

A Step Backward to Move Forward

He and I

The Idea of Positivity

My Pencil

A Memory of Mother

Traveling Abroad Without Leaving Town

Both Without Teeth

Sense and Humor

Before We Get Married

Similarities

Dear Mother

My Little Woman

My Brother

The Mistress

Original Birth

PART IV: Animals and Vegetables

At the Dog Mall

Diego by the Pool

Planting Life

The Polish Rooster

Like Prophets and Saints

Termites

Pomme

A Butterfly

Fish

Spring Is Here

Other Books

This book is dedicated to the poetry group that Pat Rozyski invited me to join in the 1990s. A special thanks to Elisabeth Khan, not only a member of that group but also the editor of this book.

Acknowledgements

Some of the poems in this book first appeared in the following publications, sometimes in a slightly different form:

The Midwife of Fallujah

- Published in a chapbook by Lettre Sauvage as part of a collection of poems for the Al Mutanabbi Street Project

Miriam

Dear Iraq

World Literature Today (November/December 2007)

I Am a Mute Iraqi with a Voice

The Wild Adventures of War

Bread and Blood in the Streets of Baghdad

Poets Against War

The Sky Is Brown

November 3rd Club (Fall 2009)

American and Iraqi Soldiers Unite in a Dance

My Brother’s Wife

Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Volume one Issue Three—December 2008)

That Line

Acumen 59 (September 2007)

America

[Remembering] a Childhood in Iraq

Mascara Literary Review (January 2011)

Love, Justice, and Turtle Soup

What Stands Between Us

SNR Review

The Veil of Vanilla and Fire

Gargoyle: Issue 56

Criticizing Trees

Folly Magazine (March 2010)

Pomegranate

Arab World Books

It Was Supposed to Rain Today

Progress Trap

Danse Macabre (Volume Five, Number Nine)

A Mentor

Pea River Journal (February 2013)

Why She’s Unaware

My Company

Mizna Literary Journal (Volume 9, Issue 2, 2007)

What I Remember About Paris

River Poets Journal (Winter 2010)

Tangerines, Shipped to Europe from Tangier

Gloom Cupboard (November 2009)

A Letter Addressed to