March...

Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues

...I find it more than coincidental that Mother's day, i.e the one who gives birth is also celebrated on that same date which corresponds to the Spring Equinox. Nature in fact gives birth to all living things in Spring. Because this day is laden with symbols, my mind wanders automatically to Nature's mysterious and orderly ways. Everything buds and burgeons in Spring. From the tiniest nascent blade of grass, to some wild flower caught in the cracks of a pavement, to Jasmin and Orange blossom trees... Even palm trees grow small offshoots of bright fresh green leaves. Here is "Mother" Nature conceiving, gestating, and preparing herself for her final delivery in Summer or early Autumn. End of march, the Spring Equinox, is also the month where Nature's lands were forcefully and violently invaded. First they penetrated Her with tons and tons of bombs before Her soil was marched on by foreign boots, planting on their way seeds of destruction and death. Impregnating Her earth, water and air with millions of chemical and radioactive germs and particles, lingering in her womb like some tenacious spermatozoa, fertilizing Her by sheer brutality and force...And since that day, 4 years ago, the day of conception, Nature has been delivering out nothing but cadavers (...) "Mother" Nature is crying yet once more...And in Iraq her tears are made of blood...

continua / continued