Trying to Explain What Knafeh is— Andrew Calis

We have invited Andrew Calis, author of Which Seeds Will Grow (Paraclete Press), to take over the Substack this week. Read more from Andrew at andrewjcalis.com.

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Trying to Explain What Knafeh is

by Andrew Calis

now a country away from the old
land, we mispronounce food we no longer
eat. make it here, you said,
find whatever you want
there is everything

no, we are still looking for waraq da'wali's
soft skin, finding in kind-meant compliments
that bitterness — how delicious! so this is made 
of cheese?

                    well technically yes but
                    not             American cheese

                    it is named      sweet cheese

which is strange. it is even strange
to me — what makes 
it sweet? sweet cream? they have that
here. in arabic, bu'aza, which we

cannot hear without hearing dad's joke — that
sugar-and-ice-cream is sukar w bu'aza
but to a child it was sakhal bu'zik, which he told
to the shopkeeper and which means
shut your mouth.

                              only now google
translates it as asimat
which is a word we do not know.

                               what sounds like 
kataifi? nothing we can make
here. nothing I have ever tasted before.

---

From Andrew Calis’ book Which Seeds Will Grow

Andrew Calis is a Palestinian-American poet and essayist. He has published in America, Dappled Things, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. His work has been nominated for various awards including the Best of the Net, Fare Forward’s poetry competition, and the Zócalo poetry prize. He lives with his family near Baltimore. Read more from Andrew on his site.

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