p. 64N ن: Nuun is the name of the letter “N,” which has been marked on the doors of minority groups by Daesh in cities in northern Iraq as a warning to leave home or get killed. Nuuna: “whale” in Aramaic. Nye: “flute” in Arabic; an instrument usually heard in sad songs in Iraq.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the editors of the following publications in which some of these poems first appeared: Amberflora; Ambit; Consequence; Cortland Review; Fifth Wednesday Journal; Grub Street; ∞ Mile; International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies; The Missing Slate; Pea River Journal; Poetry; Modern Poetry in Translation; Quarter After Eight; Spacecraft; Transmission; War, Literature & the Arts; and World Literature Today.
And my heartfelt thanks to the following poets for their exceptional support: Joy Harjo, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, Naomi Shihab Nye, Maggie Smith, Brian Turner, Jeffrey Yang, and Adam Zagajewski. I believe that two groups of people benefit the most from encouragement: children and poets.