Sara M. Saleh
Oud
you tell me you’re not really into oud
when i have dedicated my life to mastery of us
it takes discipline, i say
they tried to call it theirs,
but it is part of my body.
the oud cannot give you anything unless
you give of yourself
you give and you spend time
and you hold it
you have to hold it well
for it to share its secrets.
nobody likes to remember the death
that walked the streets with us,
we never stop playing, as though if we do, we will forget.
we never stop playing, maybe it means we have lost.
Image description: An Oud lies on an Arabic rug woven with reds, oranges, blues, greens and whites.
Poem and image taken from Red Room Poetry
Project: Poetry Object 2020
Image Red Room Poetry
We thanks Sara M. Saleh for permission to republish this poem
Sara M. Saleh is a human rights lawyer, organiser, writer, and the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon. She has been anthologised widely and her poems, short stories, and essays have been published in English and Arabic in Australian Poetry Journal, Overland, Meanjin, Cordite Poetry Review, Red Room Poetry, Kill Your Darlings, Rabbit Poetry Journal, and SBS, amongst others. She is co-editor of the groundbreaking 2019 anthology Arab, Australian, Other. She has run poetry workshops in countless classrooms, community spaces, and festivals across the country.
Sara made history as the first poet to win both the Australian Book Review’s 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2020. Her debut novel Songs for the Dead and the Living (Affirm Press) and a full-length poetry collection, The Flirtation of Girls(UQP), were published 2023. Sara lives on Bidjigal land with her partner and their cats, Cappy & Lola.
