“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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