nabil laoudji

poetry, prose, design thinking & entrepreneurship

  • HOME
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Poetry
    • Prose
  • CONTACT

wounds

February 11, 2019 by Nabil Leave a Comment

What are our wounds
But soil
Ready
To be tilled with our fingers
Ground in our palms
For wisdom.
For ourselves
For an aunt. A father.
Black caulk
To mend
Cracks in souls
Cracked open
Just like ours.

Filed Under: Poetry

if i could travel through time

February 12, 2017 by Nabil Leave a Comment

what would my great-grandpa say?
as he found his seat in a slick fusion restaurant
robe pulled to his knees
to reveal his slip-on shoes making contact with the ground

what would he do, as he sat across from me
would he study my hands, scouring for traces of how i earned my keep?
or would he sit back and bask in watching me place our order
seemingly commanding a small army of busboys and waiters
our tribe produced a chief!

what would it be like for me to look into my great-grandfather’s eyes
would they be welcoming portals into births he celebrated and deaths he mourned?
memories of his friends sharing a story by candlelight?

or would it be like staring into a wall
the concrete slab of hardened operator unimpressed with our circumstance
“you’ve lost your hair – why aren’t you married yet”?
or: “tell your father he owes me some money”

i’d like to think we’d get along fine
we’d finish our last bites of food and make our way outside

where he’d take me by the wrist and lead me to a nearby collecting pool
where he’d teach me how to make a flute from a piece of reed
and twine with its roots
where he’d tell me a salty story about when my grandfather was a teenager
and give me advice on what to look for in the mother of my children

so that one day they may have children
so that one day those children may have children
so that one day of them may sit alone at a restaurant
on a warm Sunday evening
and wonder

what would my great-grandpa say?

As originally shared at Words Tell Stories:

Filed Under: Poetry

on sadness

January 17, 2017 by Nabil Leave a Comment

beneath my room
flows a river
every now and then
a song
cracks the floor
and the river
swallows me whole

*  *  *

my sadness
– when it comes –
grabs me with its skinny arm
pulls me below the surface

the next morning
my clothes are crisp and clean
and underneath my feet
one mile of bedrock

*  *  *

i’m crying
in the shower
my face
contorted with pain
are these tears i’m tasting?
or just water

who cares?
isn’t this funny?

Filed Under: Poetry

on love

December 19, 2016 by Nabil Leave a Comment

you love me as you love
yourself

maybe even
a little less

isn’t that

bliss?

*  *  *

fill my cup
once you’ve filled yours
or soon
we’ll both
be thirsty

*  *  *

your first touch
melts a wall
inside me

how would it be
to feel this warmth
without you?

Filed Under: Poetry

December 12, 2016 by Nabil Leave a Comment

I found you in a house
Wrapped tightly in coarse wool blankets
The winds of an open plane
Buffeting these pine-wood shingles
Shuddering
With the breath of an overwhelming God

I looked into your eyes and saw a boy
Stalking the planes
Putting flint to steel
Dragging a sled with the breadth
Of his honey pot torso

Together we walk the banks of this river
Your hand in mine
I feed you scraps of meat and dried fruit
Your regale me with stories of men and women
I’ve never met

And as we make our way through gullies and forests
Meadows and mountain
Beside us the river flows
As it does
Patiently waiting for us to step in
And float away
Just me and you

http://www.laoudji.com/?p=1719

Filed Under: Poetry

#SOTM: Future Islands — A Song For Our Grandfathers

March 14, 2015 by Nabil Leave a Comment

Sounds of a quiet night. A rich voice, facing life’s tests, calling on grandpa and grandma for strength.

Shout-out to Nietzsche in the lyrics (“…the abyss would stare back at me”), Magritte on the cover?

My song of the moment: “A Song For Our Grandfathers,” by Future Islands. (iTunes Link)

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: grandparents, music, sotm

Neyssatou

July 3, 2011 by Nabil Leave a Comment

she channels the earth
her skin petrified wood
born into a marbled texture of sound and dust
her hair the parched twine of a tumbleweed
spread across the floor, picked up and reassembled
like a wispy broom lying in front of a clay Berber house

and as her song comes forth she channels the spirits of old desert women
teeth clenched against the bitter residue of a headscarf
taut against a wide solid head
her back twisted, aching
spinal vertebrae atrophying
in a sudden sclerosis of history

the nameless women who have walked the streets of
Tamerza, Tozeur, Medenine
dipped in music, encased in light
and placed on an airy mantle in Carthage

A (poetry) review of Neyssatou‘s performance at Creative Commons’ “Sharing The Spring” concert in Carthage Tunisia.

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: carthage, desert, music, neyssatou, tunisia

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Welcome

Nabil Laoudji Twitter LinkedIn Instagram More Info

Recent Tweets

  • What’s cool about history is that it keeps repeating itself with better technology 🥲 about 4 months ago
  • .@LUMAInstitute Think-Aloud Testing hits TikTok #designthinking https://t.co/OI9PTlvwaY about 4 months ago
  • RT @usopen: That final feeling 🙌 Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek will battle for the women's singles title! @Cadillac Iconic Moments | #USOpen… about 4 months ago
  • RT @WTA: 😘 Two worthy #USOpen finalists 🙌 @iga_swiatek | @Ons_Jabeur https://t.co/WrO5W4now7 about 4 months ago
@laoudji

Recent Snaps

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No posts found.

Make sure this account has posts available on instagram.com.

Click here to troubleshoot

Recent Comments

  • Don on How meditation helped me get a handle on compulsive thoughts
  • Shehab on Amazon & Wikileaks: Sorting Out the Controversy
  • Mike on On Purpose
  • Katherine Molina on On Purpose
  • Anne on On Purpose

Archives

Tags

AI arab spring boston buffalo business career comedy community democracy design thinking Entrepreneurship ethnography family film improv india interview landscape launch learnings lessons los angeles massmouth MBA meditation mental health MIT music NYC occupy oprah passion performance ethnography public speaking revolution risk rust belt sales standup storytelling story tips tunis tunisia ucb values

Thanks

Thanks for visiting!

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in