Blooming Moons: a Poem by Ayat Elbahlaoui

Little Girl

Little girl smiling so bright her eyes shining and full of joy

The strangers who pass can see the gaps in her teeth,

As she laughs with her brother while their mother is buying groceries

Don’t touch anything and don’t move a muscle

Confused she looks to her mother, why the sudden commands

Was she doing something wrong?

Though she obeys understanding the seriousness of her mothers tone

Little girl’s wandering eyes land on a pair looking at hers

Such hatred they show directed at her

His eyes do not leave hers 

They Glare into her scared ones as he exits the store

Such an expression is strange coming from a stranger

Yet the little girl knows why he did so

She continues to stand still not touching anything anymore

Her hijab feeling tighter around her neck as she waits for her mother to finish

My name is Ayat Elbahlaoui. I’m a seventeen-year-old high school student living in Fishers, Indiana along with my parents, younger brother, and grandmother. I’m a first-generation Moroccan-American and I aspire to become a forensic pathologist. 

Artist’s Statement: Most of the poems I’ve read were due to my World Literature class, and I always was more drawn to the poems that discussed themes of social justice and poems with symbolism to nature. I wanted my poems to tell a story you could picture, while some of these poems are reflections of my personal experiences I also wanted to emphasize the commonality of these scenarios. I also like to write about the connection between nature and human society; but not just how these two things intertwine closely but how when separate they still act similarly. Which is what I’ve tried to portray in my poem generations.

15 November 2022