issue 2
Koukash Review
2023
Often, at night, my grandmother is handing me
the keys to her house in Beirut,
asking me to watch over it while she’s away.
Last night, her house was in Safad.
Limestone surrounded by olive trees
with the sun drenching every room.
She gives me a plant. With her tired eyes,
asks me to care for the soil so
it may care for us when we return to it.
No country marks a face
except to mark the time it
spent burning the roots from under its people’s feet
No shadows escape the velocity of exile
caused by maps drawn by hands
eager to own what wasn’t theirs to claim.
Lara Atallah
Lara Atallah is a New York-based artist and writer. Her practice is informed by her interest in the political nature of landscape, and the power it holds to reshape our perception of borders. Her work has been exhibited in the US and internationally, and is part of the Onassis Cultural Foundation's collection in Athens, The Met Museum, as well as the NYU Langone Art Collection. Her first book, Edge of Elysium, Vol.1 was published by Open Projects Press in September 2019. Her writing has appeared in Artforum, Camera Austria, Flash Art Italia, and The Brooklyn Rail among others. She is currently working on her first poetry collection forthcoming in Spring 2023.