It’s like breathing  Without holding onto every breath  It’s like knowing I can take up space here  I don’t have to shrink.  & I let my guard down   I become part of life  The country I was born in   Grew…

March for the many stories untold The many sobs unheard March for the many times a woman flinched Not wanting to be touched, not wanting to be groped March for when love turns purple Marriages still are March for the…

The only space women are allowed  Is two-finger wide.  The colours are red, must always be red. Hands crawling out of the floors, Penises hanging on the walls, Always erect  To penetrate & impregnate.  A man’s pride and a woman’s shame. …

To tell you, would be a lie— that I’m okay.  Holding it together in dovetail, like love and hate. Only I can’t remember the last time someone came by with an unconcealed smile. These days it’s WhatsApp and Zoom, Not…

with a day comes another day, one misery placed against another misery, a betrayal and then the second betrayal,           from one hurt inches out the other hurt thus my commeasuring life: when it hits shame nips and gnaws at me…

They told you to stay Told you, Inna ma’al usri yusra With every hardship, Comes ease Black eyes, Bruised skin, Busted lips, Broken teeth They told you to stay Told you, Inna ma’al usri yusra With every hardship, Comes ease…

Sublime,Far out I have comeFrom the shattering of universeLeaving stars pelleted to stubborn grounds.Screeching like brakes, ready to dismantleTo be replaced.An unsettling scene unfurling, louder than a possessed stampedeGushing, the dam will soon break: no holding onI free fall, the…

I am the morning rose. At dawn, I stand erect. The breeze carries the scent of my dreams. My petals form a thousand smiles, the ones Hafez once wrote about. I will gently wither. I am patient. My petals will…

Didst thou think I am always happy? Because I am the colour of Summer, As I shine and glow, like virgin lover; Because I laugh when all pass by, As they forget about their meagre lives; Or maybe I remind…

The sounds of nature surround me Birds tweeting in a myriad of sound The gusts of wind shake the trees with a might I can hear the howling rain as it crashes in sleets against the window panes Nature in…

Full of noise and chatter Smells of cooking Spices and pakora batter When I make the rotis It’s got to be round not square About twelve to make with five of us to share and care Hard work living in…