Poetry
In Your Praise
In Your praise,
Mouths open
Pens lift
Beads fall
Ink dries
Tasbih ends
Words rise
and evaporate
Praise is formed
By rounding fingers
On the tongue
In the fluid streaking the page
But none is as loud as
The silence of tears
Shed in Your praise
-
-
-
holding up the sky
the sound of the last
footsteps
are heard into the new grave
the mourners have left
mud clinging to shoes
who holds up the sky
now
that they tell us
God is dead
when really only
we are dying
incurable deaths
and yet the sky
is held taut
over our graves
-
-
-
Migrant
Hajir
were You to settle me
between the rock and the unknown
barren with child
would my trust
wander purposefully
and flow like hers?
I live dustless
yet it is hardened sands which enclose me
all the times You place me
between the shifting and the hazy
my trust, a mirage
so shaky in its stride
and all I wish to do
is slip on her dusty soles
and run
-
-
-
no simple sweet depth
“Everything will be ok in the end
And if it’s not ok,
It’s not the end.” at the bookstore,
you read the back of an inspirational journal
eyes growing incredulous at the
simply sweet depth
and I laugh inside thinking of our
friend from yesterday
our beautiful friend with
the tossing long hair
we all laughed, imagining her
tossing it, saying don’t hate me because I’m deep
we knew she would smile the loudest.
At our party,
we were all deep and syrupy, we spoke on and on
laughter breaking up the words gleaned from a thousand
lectures, books and heartpangs
but you,
you have no simple sweet depth
your canon is the width of the lives
your hands have touched
artsy is nothing to the artistry of care
the lavishing of hours
yielding a depth that cannot be written
on the back of a journal
in the words of a poem
caught in the circles of a party,
standing apart from the chatter,
the drink in your hand
is simply wisdom.
-
-
-
Pinned
self-portrait of a hijabi
on a stretched canvas I paint this
sheet I pull on
around
and forward
swept across
over and
secured tight
round my head
pinned
under
the weight of
subtle looks
in suburban malls
sly tossed smirks
shut into a frame
framed into
a picture
covered up
I still
insist
on
a straight look
a question
asked into
my mind
that still
persists
in
working
under
this sheet
-
-
-
Sour Slips
my grandmother
lies in bed and murmurs
prayers
while we sneak by
to the
tamarind tree
bundle the unripe
green twists
in our skirts
the aunts are away
mothers with them
the kitchen is dark
welcomes our
hasty climbs on
short stools
boosts to reach
behind the firewood
for pickled
green mango skins
someone grabs a
bowl of kosher salt
big crystals to dip into
nanna murmurs
who’s that?
as we slip by
her bed in darkness
up to the roof to
enjoy the afternoon
sun and sour treasures
-
-
-
unfurled
the fingers seek
and clutch
a mother’s pinkie
the source of love
she will unfurl your fingers now
my child
for her hands seek
and clutch
her love’s arm
the enveloper of her soul
he will unfurl her hands
her hands
for his arms seek
and clutch
the life he left behind
the disturber of his thoughts
He will unfurl their holds
their paths
for His will reaches
and clutches
the brittle parchments
in the unfurling of all lives
I LOVE this. Masha Allah, your poetry is absolutely beautiful.
I really need to start writing creatively again…
Jazakhallah! These are actually very old poems. I haven’t really written poems for a while now. If I began again, I wonder what would come out?
Salaams Commonplacer,
Loved these poems, and the whole site. Ma sha Allah. I’ll be back, insha Allah.
Abdur Rahman
Jazakhallah, brother Abdur Rahman. I’ve actually enjoyed reading your poetry – very inspiring.
Your poems are beautiful and simple. The word choice is lovely. Please post more!
I agree with Asmaa – so simple, yet so profound. Please do post more!
Salaams Commonplacer,
Could I post some of these on my own blog?
Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman
Salaams Abdur Rahman,
Yes, please go ahead! (and all these nice comments are causing me to write more poetry …after a long hiatus…but strangely, I like my older stuff better.)
Thanks for asking.
Oh, and Jazakhillah Asmaa and Jazakhillah Hajera for your kind comments – coming from two extremely talented poets, your words are making me blush…
Salam alaikum
You have moved me and I would like to know if I could use some of your poems on my website.
Please contact me, prehaps you can do some writing for me.
Salam alaikum
Fatma
Walaikum musalam, Fatma,
thank you… and I believe we know each other! your husband went to university with my sis (and I know you make the best hijab pins on the market.) I’ll get in touch with you, insha’Allah.
salaam sister in islam….
i love your poetry! i used to write back in the dayz….but subhanAllah your words lift off the paper!
I wish you all the best in your journeys!
btw….i read from a previous comment u make “the best hijabs on the market”??? if this is true….how can i get some! do you actually make them??
looking forward to hearing from you inshallah…..
ma’salaama!