Sunnah Khan
The map of the world will not change if all the people of Gaza disappear from existence, and no one will ask about you. – Military leaflet drop Gaza Strip 2025
There are things you can capture and things you can’t. There is a small boy holding a toy gun full of water to his mouth. His other hand held at the wrist by a man with a hand three times the size. They are both looking up. There are things you can capture and things you can’t. There are birds in the sky. White and full of words. The birds in the sky don’t sing. The birds in the sky fall to the ground. Refuse flight. Stained with ink the white birds have lost their wings. The man with the hand three times the size tightens his grip. The boy with the toy gun squirts water into his mouth collected from a bucket full of rain this morning. The boy tastes clouds feels the wind kiss his cheeks dreams himself kite. There are things you can capture and things you can’t. The boy is a bird you cannot steal him from flight. The man is a weapon. He knows only when to wait and when to pull the trigger. Both of them are full of blood. Both of them are born to a mother who wants them to live. There are things you can capture and things you can’t. It is still light outside.
Sunnah Khan is an award-winning poet, documentary filmmaker, creative facilitator and activist. Her debut pamphlet, I Don’t Know How To Forgive You When You Make No Apology for This Haunting, was published by Rough Trade Books (2020). Her poems have featured in Poetry London, The Rialto & Aesthetica. She is working on her debut collection.
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