As ordinary things contemplate you

Author's name: Asala Lamaa

Through clear, sensual expressions written with ease, the poet explains the beautiful and meaningful title of her collection, and clarifies two interconnected matters: the nature of “ordinary things” on the one hand, and how they reflect on the human being on the other. The things that stick most closely to us are the things with which we feel a kind of intimacy despite their disappointment and frustrating effects on us: loneliness, alienation, nostalgia, doubt, love that generates pain, and others. These ordinary things are what give our lives meaning. This meaning is what the poet suggests throughout this collection. Accordingly, Asala Lamaa’s poem can be a poem of meaning, despite the anxiety and doubt that sometimes haunt her, or because of that anxiety and doubt.