Saffron City Press

When you hear that word, how do you feel?

She asked me in the Zoom on the other side of the world
I am staring at a wall
I hear the whir of a departing airplane
Well, how should I answer
I feel I do not belong anywhere
like night fog

Like a nomad belonging nowhere

Sure, perhaps, I can leave today

No one is holding me back

I can go where I can belong
but where is there?

There are new faces appearing in the Zoom
I feel electric shocks going through my body
I am silent for a moment
I am not seen, have no voice

I slowly answer
I slowly disappear

Well, how should I explain
wind--like going through a gust
standing with my eyes open like blades
understanding, I want to transplant my roots
finally, standing on the foot of the soil
pushed back by a bulldozer
blown away in the zephyr

want to belong
in the inner circle
but I feel like I’m always standing outside

I keep speaking out, but you said you do not understand

Sometimes, I feel maybe I belong where I come from but can’t go
You left your homeland
But that wasn’t my choice

If you could turn back the time, would you stay then
No, I would have left, even earlier
No one’s decision but mine

I put one leg in one land and another one in the other land
divided heart
like I have to eat dinner twice
but still hungry

كيف تشعر لما تسمع هذه الكلمة ؟ سألتني في
 
الزوم)بتقريب الصورةالى الجهة الأخرى للعالمانا أحدق في الحائطاسمع دوامة 
طائرة مغادرةحسنا، ماذا اجيباشعر أنى لا 

انتمى الى أي مكانمثل ضفدع الليلكرحل بلا
 
انتماءأكيد، ربما اغادر اليوملا أحد 

يمنعنيأستطيع الذهاب الى مكان انتمائيلكن أينها؟ هناك وجوه جديدة تظهر 

في (الزوم )،في تقريب الصورةأحس بصدمة كهربائية تخرق جسدياصمت هنيهةلا يراني 
احدلا صوت لياجيب ببطءوببطء أختفي حسنا، كيف علي ان اشرحمثل الريح يمر عاصفاأقف

وعيناي مفتوحتان مثل الشفراتمدركة أنى اريد شتل جدوري،أخيرا، أقف على سفح التراب،تصدني جرافة الى الوراءفي مهب في 

الزفيراريد ان أنتمي الى الدائرة 
 الداخليةلكني أشعراني دائما واقفة

 بالخارجاواصل الإفصاح لكن تقول إنك لا

 تفهمأحيانا اشعر أنى انتمى الى المكان الذي قدمت منهلكن بدون رجعةغادرت موطنكلكن هذا لم يكن اختياريلو تقدر على ارجاع الزمن الى الوراءفهل تبقي هناك؟لا، سأكون قد غادرت مبكرا أكثر من السابقليس

 قرار أي أحد سوايوضعت رجلا في ارض والأخرى 
في الأرض الأخرىقلب منقسمكما لو انه علي تناول العشاء مرتين

               لكني لازلت جائعة

Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong (고현혜) is an internationally published poet, translator, and cultural-curator who champions bilingual poetry and poets. Weaving together two cultures, Tanya’s poetry gives voice to multiple generations of Korean and Korean-American women. She is the author of five books, including The War Still Within (KYSO Flash Press, 2019), a well-researched and vividly imagined sequence of poems based on the experiences of the Korean “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Her poetry appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (The Feminist Press), the Choson Ilbo, and The Korea Times, among others. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University, Los Angeles.

In 2024, Tanya was honored by the Saharawi Women’s Forum in Laayoune, Morocco. Tanya’s work has won the Medada Award per l’espressione poetica al Ditët e Naimit International Poetry Festival, Tetovo, the Dritëro Agolli award, at the International Korçare Poetry Festival, Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award, Ko Won’s 10th Literary Award was a finalist in Frontier’s Chapbook Contest, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have been translated into Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Japanese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. In 2015 and 2018, she became the first person to translate and publish Arthur Sze’s poems in Korean. In 2015, her segmented poem, “Comfort Woman,” received an honorable mention from the Women’s National Book Association.

Izza Fartmis is a poet, interpreter, translator and writer who is a native of Casablanca living in Safi. She studied English Literature at Mohammed V University in Rabat. Mrs. Fartmis is a retired English teacher and pedagogical trainer. Izza won the International School Award (ISA) from Hassan II Qualifying School in Safi in 2013. She was the initiator and contributor of a local anthology about Covid-19 including poets and painters of Safi, entitled: ريشة و قلم She is translator of English magazines for Laayoune’s first and second international meeting activities organized by the “forum of the Sahrawi Woman, Development and Democracy”. Izza Fartmis writes in Arabic, French and, mainly, English and has published several books including Fluttering Soul, an English poetry collection, and Together, a collection of essays and short stories on personal experiences for young readers, 2024.