Not Brave
I am fine and of course I am lying
remember
I am Lebanese
or nod
ask how everyone I know is doing
don’t
you see
that far away country
my mother
bursts into tears
the front door
resilient
smoke
dust
the rubble has become
blanket and bed
warm like mine
the fire
is blazing
the flag
burnt flesh on a phone screen
the demolition
of war
what is the definition
fleeing their homes
they are
dying
they are not
crying out for help
lend a
hand
hold a
heart
for being arab
I am not brave
Copyright © 2026 by Maha Hashwi. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 19, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
“People ask me, ‘How is your family?’ when they really mean, ‘Are they alive?’ They want to know how I am doing while I watch the destruction of Lebanon from my phone. This is my response. It’s written as a palindrome to signify the potentially opposing responses to these questions.”
—Maha Hashwi
Maha Hashwi
Maha Hashwi is a Lebanese American poet. She received her MPH in environmental public health from New York University.
Hashwi is the author of The Pomegranate Is a Grenade (Central Avenue Publishing, 2026). She lives in Harlem, New York.