I roll over myself hoping to feed on the grass of beginnings
I become a fetus
And get high on the musky scent of placenta
I recover that eternity which for a while was entwined with my mother
Becoming one with it through orbits and spheres.

I emerge clean of all human sediment
Clear of all their masks and effigies
Free of gel and dyestuff.

I become, and I get going, without myths and prophecies.

Deema Mahmood is an Egyptian poet with a BS degree in Computer Sciences and Statistics. She has published five books of poetry, all in Arabic, and is winner of the “Helmi Salem Prize for New Poetry 2021.” Many of her poems have been translated into other languages