In this poem, writer Amal Kassir serves up her traditional foods with love, a show of hospitality for guests from any land.
by Amal Kassir | illustration by Alia El-Bermani

Amal Kassir is a Syrian-American poet, Poet Laureate of Hillsborough and founder of House of Amal. She has performed in 13 countries, launched a youth mental wellness program and released Scud Missile Blues (2024), donating all proceeds to Syrian children. Kassir lives on a farm with her family. “Even the one who doesn’t believe in the nation-state wants a place to call home; my home is that which connects me to my culture, my earth and my community.

Artist, teacher and independent curator, Alia El-Bermani was raised in a small town just south of Boston, where she spent most of her childhood enjoying the outdoors and discovering the natural history of the south shore of Massachusetts. She received her BFA in 2000 from Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach CA. The talented figurative painter has had several solo exhibitions and her work featured in group exhibitions across the country.  Her work has been showcased in museums such as the Palm Springs Desert Museum in California, Customs House Museum in Tennessee, Anchorage Museum of History and Art in Alaska, West Valley Art Museum in Arizona, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto and the Greenville Museum of Art in North Carolina

This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.