October 2020 Week 3 Featured Writer //
LOOLWA KHAZZOOM
Left Field
Everything I have to say
Comes out of left field for you
So much so
That you can’t even recognize
How much you can’t recognize
My life experience has
Nowhere to go
In your point of reference
I am a stranger
In a strange land
Drifting on the winds of Truth
Far away from home
Looking for a safe warm harbor
In these icy waters
Of the foreign land
Where I was born
© 2015 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author's permission.
You can also find Loolwa’s poem "Timeline” in our first printed issue—
on page 15—alongside artwork by Josie Kidde.
ARTIST’S BIO //
Loolwa Khazzoom is the founder of Iraqis in Pajamas, a local band combining ancient Iraqi Jewish prayers with original music and lyrics. Her work has been featured in the NY Times, CNN, and Rolling stone, and she has published two books— Consequence: Beyond Resisting Rape and The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage. She can be found online at
loolwa.com, at khazzoomusic.com and her Patreon.