Poetry

Like mosquito bites, Regrets nip at you when You least expect it, Leave you red and searing. Sometimes, they’re small And go away after a few days, Like the time you smiled too wide And your braces somehow got Caught in your friend’s sweater. Sometimes, they’re big And swell so much that You want to…

By Sumaiya Tufail.  — Dear Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) Oh Beloved, if only you were here to see your nation in desperate need of your light and mercy. Peace be upon thee The reminisce of the shock of your passing feels everlasting The cries of the Muhajireen and the Ansar have echoed through history. Passed down…

In the midst of Broken words, busy schedules, and different interests, Lobster was the one thing That kept us all in the dinner table. A whole lobster chopped and grilled Into small, breakable pieces, Red, hard, and slightly Marinated with batter, green onions, and ginger. Our family conversations Are like the remnants of the lobster…

Written by Nadia Abbas. — My nephew’s name is embedded to his skin In silk threading White, holy, pure My nephew’s name is sung with awe In parts of the world That glimmer with faith Received with tears of joy, Reverence, Blushing hearts My nephew’s name immigrated across a bitter ocean Dragged through a wrestling sea Taking root…

My mother said temples are torn down and desecrated in wars They lose their purity They lose their purpose My mother told me my body is a temple I understood what she meant when I allowed men to enter me with their sins I lost my purity I lost my purpose

Written by Shooooz. — Objectivity is in the eye of the beholder Look closer Those who can afford to pretend to be objective are those who can pass as default Those who can’t are assumed subjective and emotional to a fault Still lost? Okay Aristotelian logic is the basis of rational thought Based on arbitrary…

As many of us have had to force our tongues to learn English, this is an ode to my mother tongue, Arabic, reminding me to never let go of my roots. This poem only illuminates its true message when read twice; once fully top to bottom, and then back up from bottom to top. In the…

A boy is thinner than me And I blame myself For not being small enough Strange men stare at me For more than 5 seconds And I blame myself For looking back A country forced me To smooth my mouth of My mother’s accent And I blame my tongue For being so malleable A country…

They say I am too promiscuous too ungodly too appalling what they mean is that I am too much woman what they mean is that the Earth quakes every time I hiccup. daylight savings time is the sun asking the moon for more time to watch me tap dance. my laughter is a symphony of…

by Abeer Ameer Again, Ashura eulogies bleed pens dry. Loss envelops mourning recalling that fateful morning reborn are tales of tragedy. I wonder why, beyond the savagery of blood-boiling travesty quenching thirst of bloodthirsty, I still see unending mystery that we continue to repeat history. Again, we turn blind eyes but shed crocodile cries, yet,…

May 13, 2006 You tell your grandmother Theres no need to pick you up from the main entrance of the school You can meet her around the corner Because she wears a headscarf with no apology And it is only five years after 9/11 May 14, 2006 Your friends tell you patriotism is a holy…

Enough! We’ve heard you advocate to “build a wall,” and command us to “go back to our country.” Are you forgetting that one big thing? You think we’re taking your home, but little do you know the Trail of Tears wasn’t for nothing. We know you’ve felt robbed multiple times, but remember Andrew Jackson in 1839? No,…

My Islam. My prayer mat underneath my bed Islam My Qur’an next to my Kanye albums and Chance poster Islam My — the only dates you’re allowed to have are the ones during Ramadan — Islam My forgot to set my alarm for Fajr Islam My you don’t eat pork? So you never had bacon?…

When my homeland issues security checks in the Middle East When security checks is another word for U.S. Airstrikes When their home becomes just land When they bomb the same country for six years When free-land journalists broadcast it When you get a chance to make a hashtag out of a country When you run…