Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T22:43:22.080Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

My Mother (Nawal El Saadawi) – Poem

from LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2019

By
Mona Helmy
Edited by
Ernest N. Emenyonu
Mona Helmy
Affiliation:
Ain Shams University, Cairo.
Get access

Summary

She

taught me

how to be proud of my head

not

how to go with men to bed

—

She

taught me

how my dissident creative writings

can be my honor, my pride, my sky

a sky where I can sing, dance, laugh and cry

where I can sleep undressed

without being in the least shy

—

She

told me that my destiny

was to swim under water

to go against the stream

to soar above the cloudy weather

of the ‘Hareem’

—

She said to me:

‘the pleasure of writing

is your only reward

not prizes not critics’ reviews

never suppress your true self

it is a sin

that has no excuse’

—

She told me

that my freedom is priceless

not to be compromised

without any hesitation or regret

for it is my complexion my existence

my blood and my sweat

—

My mother Nawal al Saadawi

Always reminds me

that my free life

is the most creative poem

I can ever write

Type
Chapter
Information
ALT 35: Focus on Egypt
African Literature Today 35
 , pp. 235 - 236
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×