Perfect World – Sarwa Azeez

As post-war children
we always imagined
a pre-war world
inside our heads
We would often visit
the flattened spot
in our neighborhood
that could’ve been
A house
A school
A store

We were scattered
mini architects
trying to rebuild everything
from scratch:
houses
schools
stores
a complete mini town

The boy in the hand-stitched jersey
was the most memorable
driving a car
he built from mud and bottle caps
He often said
he will go and pick up
his small brother

We promised our parents
not to tell him yet

Growing up in wartime Kurdistan, the flickering light of kerosene lantern did not reduce her passion for reading and writing. Sarwa is a Fulbright alumni, got her second masters in Creative Writing from Nebraska-Lincoln University. Her debut poetry pamphlet collection, Remote, was published in the UK by 4Word in 2019.