Dying With The Wrong Name
Dying With The Wrong Name
(Dedicated to all those who came to America and lost their names)
I
these men died with the wrong names,
Na’aim Jazeeney, from the beautiful
valley of Jezzine, died as Nephew
Sam. Eh’sine Hussin died without
relatives and because they cut away his
last name
at Ellis Island, there was no way to trace
him back even to Lebanon and Ima’
Brahim had no other name than mother
of Brahim- even my own father lost his,
went from Hussein Hamode Subh’ to Sam
Hamod. there is something lost in the
blood, something lost down to the bone in
these small changes. A man in a dark
blue uniform at Ellis Island says, with
tiredness and authority, “You only need
two
names in America, “and suddenly
as cleanly as air you’ve
lost
your name. At first, it’s hardly even
noticeable – it’s easier, you can move
about
as an American – but looking back
the loss of your name cuts away
some other part, something
unspeakable is lost.
BIO
Sam Hamod was an American poet and writer of Lebanese Muslim descent, born and raised in the United States. He received a PhD from the famed Writers Workshop of The University of Iowa, and taught at Princeton, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Howard, Valparaiso and Indiana Universities. He also taught in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Hamod began publishing as the first major contemporary Muslim Arab-American poet in 1965 with Beaten Stones Like Memories, and thereafter, his award winning books as Dying With the Wrong Name and Just Love Poems For You.
Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by the famed Mexican novelist, Carlos Fuentes and twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Sam Hamod is a significant literary figure in American literature. His honors and awards, include the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Award in Poetry, Larry Neal Award in Poetry, and the Friends of Literature Ferguson Award. Hamod was the former director of the Islamic Center in Washington, DC. where he also served as an advisor to the State Department. He was also the Director of The Princeton Writers Workshop.
