By: Amal El-Sayed

243 stuffed toys
Ride the yellow school buses in Rynok Square.
An excursion of ghosts.

109 empty strollers
Line up the cobbled streets of Lviv.
A graveyard of children.

2 stuffed teddy bears
Sleep in a baby carrier.
A remnant of joy.

1 dead child
Lies beside her blood-stained pram in Vinnytsia.
A leftover of a missile.

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Amal El-Sayed has an MA in English literature and is currently working on her PhD in English poetry. She is an assistant lecturer at Ain Shams University where she teaches classical and contemporary poetry. Her poems appear/are forthcoming in Writers Resist and Spillwords. You can find her on Instagram @whimsical.scribblings.