Commas Quote by Mourid Barghouti
““I tried to put the displacement between parenthesis, to put a last period in a long sentence of the sadness of history, personal and public history. But I see nothing except commas. I want to sew the times together. I want to attach one moment to another, to attach childhood to age, to attach the present to the absent and all the presents to all absences, to attach exiles to the homeland and to attach what I have imagined to what I see now.””
About This Quote
Source Poem: “The Displaced” by Mourid Barghouti, 2005
The poet seeks to connect fragmented personal and collective histories, yearning to bind past, present, and future despite loss and exile.
In simple terms: He wants to stitch together scattered memories and histories.
Key Takeaway
Strive to find continuity amid disruption.
Themes
memory
history
exile
identity
Mood
melancholic
hopeful
Type
poetic
reflective
When to use this quote
- family storytelling
- cultural preservation
- healing from trauma
Key Concepts
narrative theory
postcolonialism
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we honor both continuity and rupture?
- What does “sewing time together” mean for personal healing?
A Different Perspective
The desire to force connections may overlook the value of ambiguity and unresolved grief.
