This is a body You can touch me I am organic matter moving constantly. Sometimes you let me be. I breathe and smell and rot. Sometimes you interfere. I break and burn in the sun, but sometimes, you watch me run.
These are raindrops, or planets seen from a distance. Do not mistake them for footsteps, or birthmarks. These are real. Touch them. Mistake them for errors, or scars.
I do not want to break my face in half.
I shy away from the dying of desire.
Tell me I am still beautiful to you. I will smile until you do.
Farah Chamma is a Dubai-born Palestinian spoken word poet. She performs multilingual poetry, mainly in Arabic, English, and French.
Edited by Zeina Abi Assy.
Myriam Nehmeh is a Lebanese photographer based in Dubai. She runs mashrou3_suwar, a photography project on Facebook and Instagram.