“Knees” by Tawhida Tanya Evanson
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Knees” by Tawhida Tanya Evanson, part of the 2025 Poem in Your Pocket Day collection.
Knees
By Tawhida Tanya Evanson
You will have to beg us on your knees
Meet us down here beneath the rubble where we live
If you don’t meet us where we are
There will be nothing left to fight for
You will have to lift us out of this amputation and weeping
Otherwise your words will mean nothing
You must crawl to stay clean among the clouds my love
I am replenishing mud a thousand faithful drone wounds at Rafah
You will have to invite us to walk beside you
As if there were no heart attack between us
You will have to see how everyone saw me fall in love
And watched me die online
You will have to receive this last living breath over and over
Whether you inhale it or not
If nothing had been said about our joy and longing
You would not have refused our joy and longing
And we would still have joy and longing even on our knees
But Hamdullah you took them too
Copyright © Tawhida Tanya Evanson
Published as part of the 2025 Poem in Your Pocket Day collection
Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a Canadian poet, novelist, artist and Ashiq. Her work blends poetry, orality, music and multimedia around themes of African diasporic identity and Sufi spirituality. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal she has roots in Antigua, West Indies. Evanson’s books include Livre des ailes (French novel, Marchand de feuilles 2023), the award-winning Book of Wings (novel, Véhicule 2021) and two poetry collections. She has an extensive history of vocal performance, audio recordings and films including the acclaimed Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE (2023). Evanson’s work has traveled internationally to festivals across Africa, Asia, Australia, UK and Canada. She is recognized for her role as director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word Program and president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.
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