Nkechi Ebubedike, Cloud Collage VI (detail), featured in AGNI 104
Standing Bridled before Dawn
A line from ‘Alqama,
a burning arrow
in the head, his ostriches
babbling in Greek.
Or a fragment from
Oum Kalthoum: Depart?
Ya salaam! What
kind of talk is this?
Smoke of refugee fires
coating their words—
the too much sugar
spooned in their tea—
the boisterous lingering
in doorways, unwilling
to say goodbye.
Their children know
the scent and wonder
where to take
their lives away,
away from them.
Khaled Mattawa
Khaled Mattawa’s most recent book of poems is Fugitive Atlas (Graywolf Press, 2020). He was born in Benghazi, Libya, and emigrated to the United States as a teenager. He later received his MFA from Indiana University. A MacArthur Fellow, he is the William Wilhartz Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan and editor of Michigan Quarterly Review. (updated 10/2026)