Tufik Shayeb

Tufik Shayeb’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Potomac Review, Sheepshead Review, The Menteur, Lost Lake Folk Opera, Madcap Review, Heyday Magazine, Blinders Journal, Muzzle Magazine, Restless Anthology, The November 3rd Club, and others. To date, Shayeb has published three chapbooks and one full-length collection titled, I’ll Love You to Smithereens. Currently, Shayeb resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

ORGAN DONOR

harvest all the fight from me
like the marrow from a bone

carefully, and with much pain
if necessary

I’ll give it up freely,
each swing and each swipe

I’ll be brittle for you
and walk with uneven limps

syphon all the love from me
like too many liters of blood

be a vampire, be reborn
rise to the undying challenge

care for another person,
more dearly than the grave

live damn you, live
like the night is an endless sea

take all the music from me
like the lungs from a chest

and sing better than ever
tell stories, laugh thunderstorms

remember my booming voice
when you speak once again

and learn damn you, learn
to live with all my best parts