By Manal Moukaddem

Here we break the rules
here we demolish walls
Apartheid walls.

We play ring around the borders,
pockets full of peaceful weapons
like pens
and cigarettes.
In café Resistance we come in pieces.

Here, the expat
in his comfy corner
intellectual smoke curling around his head
like some makeshift halo
and there, the stateless individual sits
in a tight circle with the hyphenated nationalities
the dual-citizenships
the first worlds and third worlds and
out-of-this-worlds.
Let’s not forget about the refugees
the activists
the child of the earths
the john lennons and their yoko onos
imagining all the people
living for today.
Here, in café Resistance, we share stories
and tears and anguish and laughs
all in the same breath.

We hold hands and exchange poetry
or prayers
for a real security,
a security that is not made of borders, walls, lines,
and separations.
And when one of us begins to crack
when one of us is overwhelmed, or powerless
because of imposed situations,
we stand side by side
to form a dam
and we let that person flow,
come hard.

– Manal Moukaddem contributed this article to Palestine Chronicle.com.