Slip a knife into the edge of a shell
It captures a light this greatest pearl
Why is it smashed against that doctor’s gate?
Our eyes roll up and bodies rigid
We invested a thoughtful look in his eyes
The news came to the doctor
He wondered whether he had baptized
The foaming waves of stone and plaster
Pangs of hunger tandem to lusts – everyone
My words may be a muse for evil throbs
And me – myself – standing and kneeling
Before a pit, which I call an altar
…Is this civilized living?
Hadi Atallah 
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