‘Children Of Shatila’ (Lebanon, 1998) Film By Mai Masri. In This Scene The Youth Of The Palestinian

Love so deep that every thought is like a little prayer for you

“I whet my lips to speak your name. To kiss your hands, curling into the posture of prayer, they could almost have been carved from stone. I swear: If idolatry was my only sin, then it’s because god wasn’t watching.”

— Torrin A. Greathouse, from “Ekphrasis on Nude Selfie as Portrait of San Sebastian,” Poetry (vol. 221, no. 2, November 2022)

Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2018) directed by Heperi Mita

be healthily sensitive. tell them you're hurt when you're hurt. describe what hurt you. no silent treatment and passive aggressiveness. be honest. don't compromise your emotion. don't bottle it up. weigh the issue. understand and maybe, forgive.

I’ll stay in Today by Chukwu Adaeze

“Even before I touch you: how you start to imitate the way the ground fog wavers across the grass. Some nights the dew seems to soak the stars. Your laugh settling in the corners. Your words weeding the flowers.”

— Richard Jackson, from “Things I Forgot to Put on My Reminder List,” The Heart as Framed: New and Select Poems (Press 53, 2022)

Marianela Nunez and Federico Bonelli in rehearsal for Acosta’s Carmen