Three Poems by Safa Khatib

In these three strikingly different poems, Safa Khatib plays with imagery to build pace and create a dark and troubling atmosphere. 'End of the Line' is anchored in the real world – with overheard conversations and overhead announcements on the train – but unease filters in through the cracks. Meanwhile, 'Trespass' and 'Al-Fatihah' address the reader directly while ghostly figures and ideas give the impression of something slipping beyond our grasp.

This piece is commissioned in tandem with Wasafiri 127: Solidarities.

Supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.

Trespass  

This broken architecture of meaning
in which I find myself
                                     remembering you, 

fearing my deaths 
that have already happened —  

I would tell you a story of its collapse
but the architects have slit my mind 
and the memories fell out. 

I have found a nightingale
in a poem that remains 
only in fragment. It has broken 
into my eyes, flying deeper
       and deeper in, 

I spend my days knowing it 
will become again
alive in the real cold street —  

End of the Line 

Eastbound to Shiloh from Lambert airport, 
I watch two brown men
shoulder-to-shoulder in the train car
speaking: ‘Serve a couple years 
in the army,’ one says, ‘and the healthcare 
of my wife and kid, taken care of 
all taken care of you know and when 
you get out you even get preference
for a real job like I'm a mechanic 
and I could work for police or federal 
fixing up cars and there would be
a college fund, it's not so bad.’ Above
his voice, the conductor: This is 
the red line, east bound to Shiloh-Scott. 
Stand clear. ‘And how long is basic?
Oh two, maybe six months, who knows, 
it's not so bad.’ This is UMSL North. This is 
the red line. ‘Yeah, not so bad. And how is she? 
Is she still sick, man?’ To Shiloh. Then you 
board the train. You pass me, wearing that shawl,
pushing a cart, tossing out leaflets. I read:
‘You are in a condemned area that will be
subject to bombing. Evacuate now.’ This is
the red line. Eastbound to Shiloh. He is holding
his phone to his ear. The next stop is. ‘Yeah, it’s fine 
there’s just a delay, there is this woman, she looks 
homeless or something.’ More voices, then:
Where are the doors? Stand clear. This is stop is. 
The red line. The red line. Eastbound to Shiloh-Scott.
The doors. I can't see the doors. This stop is. 
Please remain calm. I turn toward you. 
A cart of old clothes, blankets, empty cans.
Your astonishing face. The conductor sings to us. 
For your safety the doors will not be opening.
__ 

Notes: 

The ‘red line’ is the actual name of one of two train lines in the St. Louis Metropolitan light rail transit system. Its easternmost terminus is ‘Shiloh-Scott’, named after the village of Shiloh in Illinois, which borders the Scott Airforce Base. The base was constructed in 1917 and serves as headquarters of US Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM), which is responsible for coordinating the mobility of weapons, equipment, and US military personnel all over the world. 

Al-Fatihah  

Between me and you 
there is an opening. 

It is the troubling detail that possesses me.  

Whatever you call it, it sings —  

I tried to torture the opening.
I tried to force cloth, metal, water 
into the dark of its throat 
but nothing, nothing fills it. 

I tried to chain its arms and legs,
but it has no arms, no legs.  

In the city on the occupied island
water besieges me.  

The enormous province will not last. 

Cover image: Lambert Airport Terminal 1 Station, 2025.