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# Re:writing the future: many tongues, one entity
- URL: https://arts-of-the-working-class.ghost.io/text/many-tongues-one-entity/
- Published: 2021-02-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-30T21:07:11.000Z
- Description: The following poems navigate between the Here and There. They explore the fluidity of languages, times and spaces and each show a distinct vision of how their worlds may unfold.
- Author: Pegah Ahmadi
- Tags: #silverstripe

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d9/15/d915dd2a-765c-4262-8306-869873baa8ef/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2021-02-24-at-16.55.41.png)

  
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*“I am from there. I am from here.* 
*I am not there and I am not here.* 
*I have two names, which meet and part,* 
*and I have two languages.* 
*I forget which of them I dream in.”*

*― Mahmoud Darwish*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d9/15/d915dd2a-765c-4262-8306-869873baa8ef/content/images/2026/08/9-3_LI.jpg)

**PEGAH AHMAD**

| ***WO SIC*** ***H DIE BEIDEN NAMEN TREFFEN*** Du sagst, dass du zwei Namen hast.Mit meiner dünnen Hand, die aussieht wie ein Ast voller Adern,berühre ich deinen kleinen Namen.Ich gehe mit deinem Namen zum Friedhof.Ich wecke die verlorenen Namen,dein Name teilt die Sprache in kleinere Stücke.Jedes Stück Vergessenheitwählt sich einen neuen Namen.Es erinnert sich an etwas.Es hebt etwas auf.Es verliert etwas,bis die Zukunft geboren wird.Wir sind die Zukunft,mit einem zitternden Körper auf der Oberfläche des Fadens,mit einem steifen Bleistift in Kinderhänden ohne Landkarte.Mit einem Zirkel am Horizont,im Radius seines Kreises.Der Mensch wird gezeichnet.Schau dir das Schiff an,das im Wind fährt.§Ich bringe deinen Namen zum Hafen, wo jede Sprache eine Flagge ist und jedes Kind, eine Zukunft,die einen neuen Namen macht:Und mit seinem ersten Wortwacht es morgen am Himmel auf,neben Kernen, Federn, Bleistiftspäne.Auf der Ebene eine Uhr,deren Zeiger sich über die Liebe wälzen.Im Herzen eines Wörterbuchs,wo die Sonne dieser Sprache scheint.Die Sprache ist die Morgendämmerung,wo sich beide Namen treffen.Und der Schlaf erwacht aus der Poesie. |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

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***ON THE GRASS OF EXILE*** 
**By NADA AL KHAWWAM**

I’m sipping the cups of time drifting away  
on the grass of exile  
Picking up the deliberate fallout  
of news  
There they are talking about my old house  
About my half dead books  
And the falling bitter oranges  
from our neighborhood trees  
They talk about  
the low-water of Tigris and Euphrates  
I mumble poetry on the lips of the void  
Stoning the demons of my exile  
Packing the memories of my long travel  
And what hung on to my fingers from the grass  
Keeping them all in the pockets of wishes  
And then I go

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

T*his article is an extension of the festival,* [*Re:Writing the Future*](https://rewritingthefuture.org/?ref=arts-of-the-working-class.ghost.io)*, taking place from February 25 to 28\. It is going to be published in print in the Extrablatt of the upcoming issue of Arts of the Working Class.*

*This publication was made possible by the* [*DAAD ARTISTS-IN-BERLIN PROGRAM*](https://www.daad.de/de/studieren-und-forschen-in-deutschland/stipendien-finden/programme-musik-kunst/berliner-kuenstlerprogramm/?ref=arts-of-the-working-class.ghost.io)*, as part of its engagement with ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network.*

*The publication was edited by Mohamed Ashraf and Elisabeth Wellerhaus.*

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### IMAGE CREDITS

. Visual by Ashraf Bagheri for Re:Writing The Future Festival

*Pegah Ahmadi is a poet, translator and literary critic from Tehran, currently based in Köln. She originally wrote her poem in Farsi and then translated it into German.*

*Amani AboShabana is a writer and poet from Egypt, who currently lives in Norway.*

*Nada Al Khawwam is a poet and journalist, originally from Baghdad, currently living in Berlin. She has kindly agreed to reprint “On the Grass of Exile” which was first published in her anthology Poems along the River.*