SUDAN
Beggars on the streets,
nothing is what they eat.
Selling glasses and socks,
On a board there are lots.
Roads are filled,
Sudan has much to build,
with a donkey on our side,
there is nothing to hide.
The traffic light counts down,
16, 15 even the lights show brown.
Men in white,
Sudan has so much might.
The most important, the Nile,
It may be dirty but it has style.
Now smell it, sniff it,
no lights but it’s always lite.
Khartoum Khartoum,
It’s like a colorful amazingly amazing room.
So look out of the window and smile,
You have just experienced the Nile.
—from 2014 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
__________
Why do you like to write poetry?
Zeena El Gindi: “Poetry lets me express myself in ways that maybe others don’t understand. It’s like my poetry book is my best friend—it’s the only thing that I can tell all my secrets to and it accepts my opinions the way they are.”