“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 poet, novelist, artist and Ashiq known for her work blending poetry, orality, music and multimedia. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she performs internationally, has produced five audio recordings, six short films and the award-winning Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE, which premiered in 2024. Evanson has two published poetry collections and her debut novel Book of Wings won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Prize. Her French autotranslation Livre des ailes was published in 2023. Evanson’s work explores themes of African diasporic identity and Sufi spirituality, and she has received acclaim at home and abroad for her captivating performances and unique approach to poetry. She produces multimedia events as Mother Tongue Media, is recognized for her role as director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word program and is current president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.
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