Unveiling the Mind
for Nawal el-Sadawi
Beatriz Badikian-Gartler
Although your brother
failed in school, he was rewarded
by playing outside. You,
who succeeded,
were rewarded by working in the kitchen.
The schoolbooks said:
the stars were created by God. But –
who created God? you asked.
An explosion of white hair,
every life is important, you say.
Write your life.
In prison, paper and pen
are more dangerous
than guns. You wrote your memoirs
on smuggled out toilet paper with
an eyebrow pencil
from a prostitute; you hid them
in a tin can under the floor. The guard
never found them. Writing more
necessary than breathing, you ask:
Why do we write?
And answer: Not to die, to be immortal.
And demand the unveiling of the mind.