Visiting Palestine (exerpt)
[Lights come up onto a woman kneeling and tapping the ground to
a beat that she is humming. She looks up and notices the audience]
Hea, I have guests. Ahlan, Ahlan, Ahlan—itfadaloo—please
make yourselves comfortable—make yourselves at home. Walla,
I have guests! This calls for a zaghroota-usually I save them for
special occasions, a wedding, a graduation—but this is special,
ya ‘amee, this calls for 2 zaghareet [ululate twice].
We should eat something—ca’ik bi ‘agwa, little
on the crust and LOTS of ‘agwa—tsk, tsk, tsk-la’…this
calls for deep-fried white cheese with some freshly made tutlee
and hot sesame seed bread, the kind like we used to buy from Bab
al ‘amood—ya ALLAH, and we can’t have the sesame
seed bread without at least one piece of falafel, and some zeit
and za’tar—oh and [she notices the audience and becomes
startled] What? Why are you looking at me? You don’t expect
me to get it for you, do you? From where? My kitchen? My leftover
broth? My stale bread? Ibtisthoosh? Have you no shame? La soofak,
kharoofak, wala ‘ayn ma’t shoofak.[She goes back to
the corner and kneels into the original position in which the audience
first found her]
„ 2004 Noura Erakat
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