I asked him if he cared for Iraq.
“No,” he said,
like a stone skipping once
and sinking.
So I wondered —
does Iran pull at him?
Does its name
taste different on his tongue?
And then the quiet question
I didn’t say aloud:
what about Kurdistan?
Does he keep it
folded in his pocket
like a secret map,
or leave it in the dark
with all the things
he says he doesn’t care for?
Because some silences
are just another way
of answering.