Poem
Nazand Begikhani
AN ORDINARY DAY
AN ORDINARY DAY
AN ORDINARY DAY
The security officergot up early
put on his white shirt
had honey toast with nuts
kissed his three children
hugged his wife passionately
and left for work
At his desk
sat ten files
of ten men to be shot
He signed them
while drinking mint tea
At ten o’clock
he ordered the shooting
got angry over a gunman who missed his target
Taking out his pistol
he fired at the missed target ten times
Before the end of his shift
he visited the mothers of the ten shot men
ordered each to pay 100 dinars
for the cost of the bullets that killed their sons
In the evening
he celebrated his brother’s birthday
At night
on the surface of a mirror
he saw a drop of blood trickling down to his feet
he tried to wash it
the trickle rose to his chest
Where does the difference lie between the killer and killed?
© 2006, Nazand Begikhani
From: Bells of Speech
Publisher: Ambit Books, London
From: Bells of Speech
Publisher: Ambit Books, London
Nazand Begikhani
(Iraqi Kurdistan, 1964)
Nazand Begikhani was born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1964. She has been living in exile (Denmark, France and currently the UK) since 1987. She took her first degree in English language and literature, then completed an MA and PhD in comparative literature at the Sorbonne. She published her first collection, Yesterday of Tomorrow, in Paris in 1995. Her second and third collections were published in K...
Poems
Poems of Nazand Begikhani
Close
AN ORDINARY DAY
The security officergot up early
put on his white shirt
had honey toast with nuts
kissed his three children
hugged his wife passionately
and left for work
At his desk
sat ten files
of ten men to be shot
He signed them
while drinking mint tea
At ten o’clock
he ordered the shooting
got angry over a gunman who missed his target
Taking out his pistol
he fired at the missed target ten times
Before the end of his shift
he visited the mothers of the ten shot men
ordered each to pay 100 dinars
for the cost of the bullets that killed their sons
In the evening
he celebrated his brother’s birthday
At night
on the surface of a mirror
he saw a drop of blood trickling down to his feet
he tried to wash it
the trickle rose to his chest
Where does the difference lie between the killer and killed?
From: Bells of Speech
AN ORDINARY DAY
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère