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Mariam was an animal at the zoo
thousands of eyes bore down
she held her breath
concentrated on her final paces
1..2..3..4..5...
When she felt her legs trying to give out
she remembered Zalmai's broken heart
she steadied
Aziza's smile
Laila's laugh
Mariam had loved
Mariam had been loved
An illegitimate beginning
A legitimate ending
Mariam bowed her head to a man one last time
One more prayer
Mariam was a flower that never got to bloom
-march loftin

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Silence of Nana hanging for the branch
Silence of my choices long gone
Silence of the rings on my finger
Silence as he left the house
Silence as he touched me
Silence as I crushed the pebbles
Silence of Mammy's gloomy dark room
Silence of the lush farming fields
Silence as we waited for the explosions
Silence as words of death were expressed
Silence as Aziza was held
Silence I wished the second would give
Silence as he laid cold on the ground
Silence as they turn the corner last to be seen
Silence with the gun to my head
Silence as all my happiness was gone
Silence to the thousand splendid sun
- Sheniah Cineas

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Nana and Mariam try to find a ride they wait and wait but nothing comes. they hope no one will call them names they hope no one will look at them like they were wrong. They finally find a ride but it only has one seat so Mariam takes it and nana dies Mariam blames her self but Jalil says it always been like that so she keeps going in hope of light them one day she leaves somewhere else and sees all the pain and sorrow she has to face. She hopes it will get better but little did she know it only got worse.

By: Mohammad Rizvi
Pg:20-37

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Tears of grief
Tears of anger
Tears of disillusionment,
Refusing to leave
Sleeping on the street
She had been right all along
Comfort from Fraizullah
Still didn’t sooth her
Nana, who had warned her
Mariam wondered
She wondered how she would face her
Till she stumbled upon her
Mariam saw
Rope dangling
And feet dangling
Nana had been right all along

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-Jazmin Navarrete Gonzalez
chapter: 36

A daylight steadily bleached Darkness from the sky,
Spring morning of 1994
Mariam, Laila, and Aziza
The run away
At the Lathore Gate bus station,
Near Pol Mahmood Khan
In East Kabul
Men stood in a long line
At the ticket booth
Groups of Burqa-clad women chatting
The freedoms and opportunities
That women had enjoyed (1978-1992)
Do you see anybody?
My name is Wakil, "stay close"
A betrayed form Wakil
"You two,with the child,step aside,"
The soldier said
Hair was ripped from Laila's scalp,
And her eyes watered with pain that Rasheed caused
"I'm sorry Mariam,"
Laila cried into the glass

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Harami,
Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami,
Nana looked so mad,
"you clumsy little harami".
See that the creators of the harami who are culpable,
not the harami,
Who's only sin was being born.
Harami,
Like the scurrying cockroaches who Nana always curses and sweeps out of kolba.
Harami,
Who didn't have a Dil,
Harami,
A mugwort,
something you rip out and toss aside.
Harami,
🤬's Catching the phosphorescent blue of moonlight beaming through the clouds.
- Sahil bardai
(pgs 1-4, 89)

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Mariam woke to the noise
It wasn't the bombs
It was the celebration
Of what you ask?
The Taliban

Their leader was Omar
So called Ameer ul Momineen
People had false hopes
People cheered
"The pure have come"

Rasheed exlaimed full of joy
"Peace has come"
Kabul will be cleaned
There would be no War
But little did they know
The worst was yet to come

Pg. 273-274; By: Raasikh Kanjiani of Grade

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they'd barely made it out
of kabul
when they were caught
and sent back
the mullahs son was flogged
before he repented
and said that
naghma had seduced him
with her feminine charms
she'd cast a spell on him
listening to Naghma
Mariam remembered the dim glimmer
of cold stars and the stingy pink clouds streaking over
the Safidkon
mountains that long- ago morning when Nana had said
" like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always find a women always you remember that Mariam"
MariahnGIbbon
pg 363-364

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by Cassia Hagley
pg 137-144
she had one hand clamped over her mouth
and Mammy was screaming,
screaming, and screaming
sniffling women who took turns patting mammy's hand
mammy's eyes drifted down. she blinked
Laila drew Mammy's hand into her lap
but Mammy said nothing
she did nothing
Mammy lay in bed most days
Laila, wishing Mammy would notice she hadn't shaheed
they would obliterate her in death
on which mammy meant
to ink their legends

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-Misa Mosby-Faust

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By : Devon Duncan
pg 78
new crescent moon
transform an entire city
alter its rhythm and mood
traffic become languid
scant, even quiet
shops emptied
restaurants turned off their lights
close doors
no smoker on the street
the sun dipped in the west
the cannon fired from the mountain
the city broke its fast
so did mariam
tasting for the first time in her life
the sweetness
sharing communal experience.

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By: Jennifer Cordero
Pg.193-195

I looked up to the sky
Then a giant roar
A flash of white
The ground lurched
Knocked me out of my sandals
Flying, in the air
Crashing to the ground
A shower of dirt
A bloody chunk of something
Shapes moving about
A fluorescent light
Everything fades back to the dark
It hurts everywhere, it hurts
Where's Tariq?
Why isn't he here?
A flock of stars
A deep hush falls over everything

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-Allounique Mahabeer

“I am a different breed of man”

These are the laws that we will enforce, obey:

You will stay inside your home at all times

You will not show your face

You will not wear charming clothes

You will not speak unless spoken to

Women are forbidden from working-

“I refuse to believe it” “They’re not serious”

“Women used to practice law and medicine-”

“How urbane,how Tajik,of you”

“Look at me”

Endure

“Women like us.We endure.”

“This is what it means”

“To be a women in this world”

“A man’s accusing finger always finds a woman.”

“For.... I am a different breed of man”

pages:70-77 ,278, 18-19

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By Om Gautam

We all face hardships
Some too big to imagine
No hardship is easy
But some are far greater
Mariam waited for Jail every Thursday
Nana waited for Mariam to understand
Waiting is a game
A game without a plan
Waiting isn't easy
Because we do not know the answer that may be
Sometimes we wait for good news
Other times, we pray for sunshine
When we wait, we look for hope in places
Often times, in the most extreme of cases
Not knowing the answer, our heart, it races
The hardest act to endure, is the one without a cure
The most punishing act, is the act of waiting

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By: Jordan McBurse

It’s the whistling
I hate more than anything
The seconds in between
The endless time of feeling suspended
Often it happened at dinner
The reflection of our faces on the window
The whistling
Followed by an expulsion of breath
Pitch-black, the blast, blissfully elsewhere
The barehanded frenzy of digging
Cries and chocking clouds of dark
The pulling of what remained
A sister
A brother
A grandchild

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By Ravawn Hackney

Five years old when she heard “harami”.
Jalil said she was his little flower.
“Like a compass, mans finger finds a woman.”
“I’m sorry Nana.”

“I cut the cord between us myself.”
“For my birthday, I know what I want.”
“I’ll die if you go. I’ll just die.”
“Do you need anything?”
“You have a suitor.”
“And do you accept this man as your husband?”

His nails were yellowish-brown.
“There is no shame in this.”
Was this what he did then?
“I think it’s a boy. Yes. A boy.”
Then there was blood and she was screaming.

How quietly us women endure what falls upon us.

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By Jade Baptiste
Pg.260 chapter 34

- Of all eartly pleasures
My favorite is you
Holding you close
Watching your eyes
As they dialate and shrink
And feeling your soft skin
over little dimpled  knuckles
Whispering on to your small head
about Tariq
The father who will always be a stranger
Who had the prettiest thick lashes like yours
A good chin
A fine nose
He was perfect
Like you

# data[].attributes.body
Five years old when she heard “harami”.
Jalil said she was her little flower.
Like a compass, mans finger finds a woman.
"I’m sorry Nana.”

"I cut the cord between us myself.”
"For my birthday, I know what I want.”
"I’ll die if you go. I’ll just die.”
"You have a suitor.”
"And do you accept this man as your husband?”

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She felt her life detaching
she,the end of
the snapping rope
with him leaving
struck blind
she should have seen
this coming
broken
four months
Fighting
she can hardly recognize him
Her heart can’t take it
anymore
drained after fighting
she should have seen this
coming
-Lizbeth Gutiérrez pg 180-181

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What I want is to be alone
You will leave me be
And I will return the favor
I have no use for your company
I dont want it
I dont want it
My mouth felt perch
Never before spoken in this manner
It felt exhilarating
But the girls eyes teared
And her face drooping
My saticfaction from this outburst
Felt meager and somehow illicit
I hear her say,
“Im sorry about all of this”
“You should be”, I said
”You should be sorry.”
- Jacob Bouie

Pg. 226

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The first was the most important
Mariam loved the idea
Her first child
Her only one
The one to carry the burden
Of her mother, Nana
The first sin has passed
Another came
Filled in the spot of the first
The dread of another came
The third then the fourth
The fifth and the sixth came soon after
Until the seventh the

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Javier Singh
Pg. 240-241
Known that corruption would compel Laila.
Rasheed pointed out to Mariam
Rasheed swung his belt jingling loudly.
Stop this Rasheed.
Mariam backpedaled again.
"No! Don't do this!"
Rasheed raised his belt again for another blow.
The girl lunged at him.
She grabbed his arm.
"Let go!" Rasheed cried.
"You win. You win" says the girl.
Rasheed has won.
No more beating.
Please don't continue.
He has showed his corruption.

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David ollar
Period 1 10-29-18
P-186-195
The hottest day of the year.
Laila on the living room couch.
Babi in the hallway.
We’re leaving Kabul.
There’s nothing left for us here.
We can make a new life.
They gathered items to be sold.
It flooded her ears.
Screaming now.
A whistling.
Dropped the books at her knees.
Looked up at the sky.
Then a giant roar.
Her chest hurts.
Her arms and legs hurt.
Then a deep hush.

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I can't
I didn't think you even existed
Dont say that.
her fingers crushing
I love you
His eyes crawling all over her
I'm sorry
Her hands limp on her lap
I love you
She felt so small
She made him promise to go
His lips move but make no sound
Without good byes
It hurts to breathe
Shaking against the pounding fists
She falls back into the dark

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No matter what a woman says
No matter how much they beg
They are always given to men
Men say they are loving
Until their rule is challenged
And they get that muderous stare
Holding nothing but a belt
And only thoughts of anger
Never to be challenged
Never to be stopped
Because in this world
Women are peasants
Compared to men
The kings of this world

Pages 45-50 and 240-241

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That summer, titanic fever gripped Kabul
After curfew everyone locked their doors
Turned down the volume and reaped tears
For jack and rose and the passengers of the
Doomed ship
“Titanic cry” was born
It’s the song, they said
No, the sea, the luxury, the ship
Everybody wants jack
That’s what it is
Everybody wants jack to rescue
Them from disaster
But there is no jack
Jack is not coming back
Jack is dead
Jaliyah P
Pg.303-304

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Mother
Of all earthly pleasures, Laila had a favorite:
Lying next to Aziza.
She loved running her finger,
Over her soft skin,
Her dimpled knuckles,
The folds of fat on her elbows.
Sometimes, she lay Aziza down
And whispered to her
The things about Tariq,
Whose face she’d never know.
“He had the prettiest of eyelashes,
A good chin, a fine nose,
And a round forehead.”
“He was perfect.
Perfect, like you are.”
p.245