Home
I can say that I am near 26th street in Boulder, Colorado,
in North America, bordered by the Pacific and Atlantic
oceans. I can say I am in the western hemisphere of planet
Earth, the third planet removed from the Sun, between
Venus and Mars. I can point to the Moon and know that
things are okay. I can say I am located in the Orion Arm
of the Milky Way galaxy, one among other galaxies that
make up The Local Group, among countless others that
make up the observable universe. I could name every star
around me and say home is the location of this planet
among these stars in this galaxy in this universe. I can
point to where I stand, map directions, and say I am here.
Though no matter how we name and occupy the spaces
we’re in, no matter how well we can locate our position
to everything we know, we remain lost in the wider web
of everything we don’t know; where light comes from,
and where it goes; just how far this circle of existence
expands; the purpose of green; and why, pray tell, does
anything insist on its own becoming. How, in a limitless
universe edging nowhere, did a glimmer of light sprout.
How, in this fabric of forever, did we ever forget to love
one another, to praise all we have, to call each other home.
About the Author: Moudi Sbeity is a Lebanese-American poet, author, and contemplative counselor. Born in Texas and raised in Lebanon, he moved to the United States at the age of eighteen as an evacuee following the 2006 July war. In Utah, Moudi founded and operated Laziz Kitchen, a Lebanese restaurant celebrated by the New York Times as “the future of queer dining.” Moudi was also a named plaintiff in Kitchen v. Herbert, the landmark case that brought marriage equality to Utah and the 10th circuit states in 2014. He is the author of the memoir Habibi Means Beloved, and the poetry collection Alhamdulillah Anyway. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Orison’s Best Spiritual Literature. Moudi’s work focuses on themes of justice and liberation through a spiritual framework of compassion, forgiveness, and awe. As a lifelong stutterer, he is passionate about writing and poetry as practices in fluency and self-expression.
Image Credit: Arnold Topp: Schlafende Gestalten in nächtlicher Gebirgslandschaft (1917) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
