Shifting sand dunes

An angelic whisper
cautions me to fight with care
and promises forgiveness is best
when sinners have succumbed
to the devil’s promises
time and time again
as they sift through Arabian sands
each grain -
a crime left unpunished
a sin left unpardoned -
evading the hold of their fists
faster as they get tighter
till they leave empty handed
in search of mirages of fulfillment
finding themselves no [...]

Read Full Post »

Another home

Just wanted to alert My Own Reader’s readers (that sounds funny doesn’t it?) to visit Disconnected Verses, my second home on WordPress.  As the About page states, Disconnected Verses is the brainchild of a few young Muslim women in Toronto (i.e. my friends and I) with the inkling to write.  I’ll be a frequent contributer [...]

Read Full Post »

Angels write poetry

I was supposed to write a poem but confusing and ambivalent thoughts are hard to force into poetry. Prose is so much simpler, so much cleaner. The words may be misplaced and the message incoherent, but you can make something of it. Prose is tangible. I can clasp onto it for [...]

Read Full Post »

On Pain and Clarity

Confusion clouds clarity
and I need to go someplace
that only I know of
when there comes the end of everything
I need to hide behind myself and
walk into an open field
where everyone can look and point
and laugh with much glee
while I stand unperturbed
because I have trust
Truth, seemingly so
destroys my clarity when I want to walk
in the footsteps of [...]

Read Full Post »

No more aces

My mother is sad
because love diminishes
and the corner store sometimes
runs out of playing cards
or only carries an incomplete deck
with no aces to trump the
separation
and bind once more in ties of kinship
because children grow up
and the bird leaves its nest to attempt
a flight on its own
Maybe if I showed her
flower arrangements in the funeral home
or the [...]

Read Full Post »

Struggling souls

I lost her on the highway, on the way home back to New Hampshire. She begged and pleaded, shed tears of remorse and promised it would be different thereafter, but my resolve was unshaken. I hardened my heart into a stubborn slate of baked clay, sieved through all the emotions that were the [...]

Read Full Post »