Scarf

Do not be scared of me
I’m not an alien
Coming from space
Hiding its horrible sensors
Under its hood
I am not here to attack you
No
Don’t be scared
I am not a female spider
Hiding in her web
Trying to wrap your body with my silken thread
I am not a barbaric woman
Just dancing on the drums of death
I am a woman like you
Smiling like you
walking on my feet like you
crying, laughing, dreaming and singing like you
The difference between us is
in the war I lost so many…
It’s a scarf
My scarf
See it, touch it, feel it
Do not let it cover your mind
From seeing the real truth


Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, and playwright born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, who now lives in the United States. Faleeha was the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq.
She received her master's degree in Arabic literature, and has now published 26 books, her poems have been translated into English, Turkmen, Bosnian, Indian, French, Italian, German, Kurdish, Spain, Korean, Greek, Serbia, Albanian, Pakistani, Romanian, Malayalam, Chinese, ODIA, Nepali and Macedonian language. She is a Pulitzer Prize Nominee for 2018, and a Pushcart Prize Nominee for 2019.
She's a member of the International Writers and Artists Association.
Winner of the Women of Excellence Inspiration award from SJ magazine 2020, and the Winner of the Grand Jury Award (the Sahitto International Award for Literature 2021). She served on the Women of Excellence selection committees for 2023, was a winner of a Women In The Arts award in 2023 and a Member of Who's Who in America 2023. She's on the Sahitto Award's judging panel for 2023 and a cultural ambassador between Iraq and the US.