An Excerpt from “must/”
my hair is falling out as i watch an old man emerge in bold relief. amazing to witness. excellence in form/ well-worn attire melts into skin
Source: “must/” – Jay Mora-Shihadeh
Category: Journal
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SURRENDER is SWEET: A Poem About Letting Go
Silence is master and in love I grasp
her, willfully I surrender in glee
© Jay Mora-Shihadeh
Photo by mohammad majid on Unsplash
Source: SURRENDER is SWEET #poetry by jay – The Artist From The Inside Out
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GRUNTING
insipid but still
you curl
your lashed tongue
and leap like a leopard
at my feet
©Jay Mora-Shihadeh
Photo by Bogdan Pasca on Unsplash
Source: GRUNTING #poetry by jay – The Artist From The Inside Out
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SHIRKED THE MOMENT
Celebrate?
I’ve turned it down
shirked the moment
for stead/ I pretendno need exists
in my human
calendar©Jay Mora-Shihadeh
Originally published August 23, 2022 on The Artist From The Inside Out.
Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash
Source: SHIRKED THE MOMENT #poetry by jay – The Artist From The Inside Out
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Substack | Aug 2026
An excerpt from “The Fall”
I smell a whiff of cigarette. A hint of cologne. Gasoline stained concrete. Repel the urge to retreat
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Substack | Aug 2026
Sitting with this weight. Breaking down the tension.
I can claim whatever the hell I want, change my mind if I desire to. I am full and I am empty. Arc and bend. Pliable like clay. Pieces of me strewn across the past. My past.
What lies in front of me?
Follow the tension to its end on my Substack.
Source: The Fall – Jay Mora-Shihadeh
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Substack | Aug 2026
I keep coming back to these words- Isolation/Ghosted/Erased. Isolate. Ghost. Erase. Tactics of control. First to set in is isolation,
Dive into the full rhythm and structure of this piece over on my Substack.
Source: Substack
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The Architecture of a Haunting/ a lyric essay on ghosts, land, and survival
My mom was an orphan, from a broken up, Irish-American-mixed family. Her mother was an alcoholic and prescription drug abuser. Her father disappeared. Never seen again. Felt for years. Real/ not real. Who knows. She lived in a scrappy trailer park and begged for food.
Read the full essay on Substack.
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On Fracture and Inheritance
I’m pondering recollections of my fragmented mind. The swirling images are like butterflies in a net, popping and fluttering. A puzzle—pieces of memory scattered/shattered. The bits flung about. What is this fractured memory?
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Inhabiting the Body of My Cede: A Journey from Ramallah to Philadelphia
Since the experience I had on Amtrak, I’ve whipped open the poetry collection I’ve been pecking at for years now. It’s on Palestine/ America/ Ireland/ diaspora—the details of which are still incubating and forming.
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NOTES FROM AMTRAK
The poems that I wrote in particular about my Tetah and Cede, my Palestinian grandparents, gave me intense feelings of sadness coupled with immense emotions of love and loss.
I recall vast lifetimes/ tracing a labyrinth to all the Tetah’s that have nurtured/ fed their grandchildren lovingly. A silent steady stream. A monumental mountain/ heavy on the landscape. This I see in a glimpse/ a sudden weighted gravity/ that pierces my heart/ as I sit in quiet memory of you my Tateh.
These dichotomous feelings evoked the profound sense of need, or desire to continue the pace in which I double-down on these journeys into the Lyrical and documentarian type of poetry I must continue to write. If only to express, as a form of witness here today/yesterday— a people that are not disappearing/erasing from the timelines of history.
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JOIN ME ON SUBSTACK
A deep dive into the layers I usually skip over.
Read my first essay on my new Substack, and subscribe, share, comment- Histories Live in the Body
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Dogzzzzz….Rule! (well, you know the rest)
Thought I would share with you this old post…I miss this guy so much, my beautiful chocolate lab has been in my thoughts so much lately, even though we lost him back in June 2017. sigh… The Oil Pastels were actually inspired by him many years prior to his passing. He lived to be almost 14 just shy of his 14th birthday. I got him from a very nice Mennonite family who lived on a farm in the Lancaster PA., area when he was just 10 weeks old. Best dog ever!
#Dogs #Familypet #chocolatelab #Artist
The Artist From The Inside Out
Now that you saw from my post about the farmer’s market, that I have the BEST Dog On THE Planet!
Khalil!
and one more snoozy pic! (note the faraway look in his eyes)
Being the big dog lover that I am, I decided to create two pastel pieces in honor of my boy. Enjoy!
“Cave Dog” Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper
“Dog Run” Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper
©Jay Mora-Shihadeh
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Dogzzzzz….Rule! (well, you know the rest)
Now that you saw from my post about the farmer’s market, that I have the BEST Dog On THE Planet!
Khalil!
and one more snoozy pic! (note the faraway look in his eyes)
Being the big dog lover that I am, I decided to create two pastel pieces in honor of my boy. Enjoy!
“Cave Dog” Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper
“Dog Run” Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper
©Jay Mora-Shihadeh
