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Tuesday

Tuesday

by Jamal Saeed

These 24 hours together are Tuesday.
This Tuesday will not turn back.
It is part of your age,
try not to lose it.
Fill it with your ability of being happy.
Enjoy love, enjoy giving, enjoy wearing the wind as your own gown.
Enjoy causing happiness to the tired moms and scattered refugee clouds.
Enjoy whatever makes your heart smile as a child, and fly as a free bird in
     the wide sky which exists inside you.
Do the same with Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays,
     and Mondays.<
You have no chance to enjoy,
on a coming day
I hope someone will say:
she knew how to live, she knew how to tame the hard times
day after day.
***
These 24 hours together are Tuesday.
Don't think about it.
Enjoy this very moment.

About this Poem

Cover of Yara's Spring

When Jamal Saeed was seventeen years old, he watched as his family home was raided by soldiers of the al-Assad regime. He was arrested at nineteen for passing out pamphlets and was subsequently held in prison, without charge, without seeing a lawyer or judge, for twelve years. After his years as a prisoner of conscience in Syria, he was invited to Canada in 2016. He continues to raise awareness about Syria’s ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis through his work as an activist, editor, visual artist, and author. 

Jamal is the author of the children’s book Yara’s Spring, which explores a girl’s complicated childhood growing up in Aleppo, Syria, as a revolution, and eventually the Arab Spring unfurls. Open Book calls it “a powerful, tense, and toughly beautiful story of overcoming impossible odds and holding onto love in the most difficult circumstances, Jamal Saeed’s… is a book for every young reader.”  

Jamal lives with his family in Kingston, Ontario.

Joy Journals

Jason Heroux is interested in seeing what your "joy journal" looks like. What sort of images and moments and memories would be in there? Please send an example of a page from your joy journal to poetlaureate@cityofkingston.ca with the words "Joy Journal" in the subject line. It can be a poem, a list, a paragraph ... anything you like. A few submissions may be selected to appear as upcoming posts on the Poetry Blackboard.

About the Poetry Blackboard

The Poetry Blackboard showcases poems curated by Kingston's Poet Laureate and written by Kingston poets. There's a new poem every month, written by poets living and dead, historical and contemporary, published and unpublished, adults and children, giving full range to the cultural voice of Kingston. Started in 2015 by Helen Humphreys, the Poetry Blackboard has been continued since 2019 by Jason Heroux.

We wish to thank Helen Humphreys, Kingston's second Poet Laureate, for her generous support of emerging and established poets in Kingston through library programming and our Poetry Blackboard project. Throughout her four years as Poet Laureate, Helen curated a digital collection of poetry to showcase the talents of local creators of all ages, both historic and contemporary. Helen also offered several opportunities for emerging poets to develop their craft, offering group workshops and one-on-one mentorship. Her active engagement with the library and community has been greatly appreciated.

In 2019 we welcomed the incoming Poet Laureate, Jason Heroux, who continues to curate the Poetry Blackboard and to develop new community programming.

Previously Published Poems