Mimesis

My daughter
                        wouldn’t hurt a spider
That had nested
Between her bicycle handles
For two weeks
She waited
Until it left of its own accord

If you tear down the web I said
It will simply know
This isn’t a place to call home
And you’d get to go biking

She said that’s how others
Become refugees isn’t it?

Fady Joudah, “Mimesis” from Alight. Copyright © 2013 by Fady Joudah. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press.
Source: Alight (Copper Canyon Press, 2013)
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