Tamara Nassar’s “Third Act”
The LARB Quarterly no. 44, “Pressure,” presents a new poem by Tamara Nassar.
By Tamara NassarApril 18, 2025
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This poem is a preview of the LARB Quarterly, no. 44: Pressure. Become a member for more fiction, essays, criticism, poetry, and art from this issue—plus the next four issues of the Quarterly in print.
¤
Third Act
There are things that are simple. There are rifles
in the first act of the last century
that were never fired. It is time
to stuff the barrels full of vines. It is time
for teeth. That’s the cost
of your metaphor.
As for mine, in my palm is an apple, look:
it bleeds real blood.
¤
Featured image: Natalia Goncharova. Reapers, 1911, is in the public domain. Accessed April 14, 2025. Image has been cropped.
LARB Contributor
Tamara Nassar is a Palestinian journalist and writer born and raised in Amman, Jordan. She is an associate editor of The Electronic Intifada. She lives in Chicago.
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Did you know LARB is a reader-supported nonprofit?
LARB publishes daily without a paywall as part of our mission to make rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts freely accessible to the public. Help us continue this work with your tax-deductible donation today!