Cairo Love Story

Lush spring foliage, the majnoona growing wildly,
recklessly, like how I’m falling in love with you.
Any man who brings me home to my knees is a man
I love. Cock the rifle in my mouth, I want to taste our army.
Will you spoil our country for me?
My heart is bleeding all over the corniche. I am so in love
with our home. This beautiful country, I want to eat,
eat, eat. Today I am in love with the world. Today,
I am coming alive, turning the flowers into my body.
Let me sing, let me stay alive, let me love it all.

leena aboutaleb is an Egyptian and Palestinian writer searching for fruiting trees to sleep under. Her chapbook Expeditions of Projection was released in 2023 by VIBE. She can be virtually located @na5leh on Twitter.