AMSTERDAM REVIEW
  • Home
    • Poetry
    • Translations
    • Fiction
    • Interviews
    • Essays
    • Photography
    • Fine Arts
  • Masthead
  • Issues
    • Us v. World Revisited
    • Spring 2025
    • Fall 2024
    • Spring 2024
    • Fall 2023
    • Spring 2023
    • Fall 2022
    • Summer 2022
    • Exilé Sans Frontières
  • AR Tunes
  • Submissions
  • Contact

A Blessing 
​by Salma Sayed

I.
Today was itchy. Itchier
than usual. A few names 
kept scratching at the back 
of my neck. I’d even cut 
the tags off of the shirt.

II.
Today, I’m upset about the 
green yellow brown liquid
in decorative pickled vegetable 
jars and why they’re kept in 
kitchens. It never looks inviting.
Why don’t I ever get invited?

III.
Today I went for a walk.
I wasn’t sure what to do with 
my hands. I found myself
stomping down the sidewalk
with two balled fists. No one
smiled back at me.

IV.
Today, I found a faint line 
on my face. I tried to smooth 
it out with my finger then 
took to the internet: does 
Botox look natural if you 
have an animated face? 

The answers were mixed.

V.
Today was fine. It was cloudy 
and just warm enough outside. 
I gave a homeless white man the 
last two dollars I had crumpled
up at the bottom of my purse 
and he said God bless you, 
sweetheart
. I’ll take it.

Salma Sayed
Salma Sayed is a Moroccan-Egyptian poet born and raised in northern Virginia. She holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.

<<  Two by Marie Lundquist

Three by Sean Thomas Dougherty  >>

​Home          Masthead          Submissions     

Contact​​           T&Cs
Picture
© 2025 Amsterdam Review. All rights reserved.
  • Home
    • Poetry
    • Translations
    • Fiction
    • Interviews
    • Essays
    • Photography
    • Fine Arts
  • Masthead
  • Issues
    • Us v. World Revisited
    • Spring 2025
    • Fall 2024
    • Spring 2024
    • Fall 2023
    • Spring 2023
    • Fall 2022
    • Summer 2022
    • Exilé Sans Frontières
  • AR Tunes
  • Submissions
  • Contact