Egg-Yolk Sunshine State of Mind

It was the still, sticky, egg-yolk afternoons that made her think of mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers. When the sun is her stinkiest, the salt dissipating from her skin and bubbles on the pores of everyone and everything she laid her eyes on, that was when cotton dresses, floral patterns, gold bands and blue stonesContinue reading “Egg-Yolk Sunshine State of Mind”

Like Wood in a Fireplace

A voice smooth and uncoiling singing to Abdulhalim, crackling when it tried to get the high notes. Like wood in a fireplace lit on a silvery blue snowy evening on the only day of the year that the country snowed. Singing waves of crumbling notes, soothing songs of white joyful lies. Songs of motherhood. LikeContinue reading “Like Wood in a Fireplace”

The Best Breadcrumbs

“Tell me about your dreams”, his mother says.  She slices through a cool cucumber that seemed to have lost all its juice. He wants to say that he won’t eat this powdery mildew; that she will one day end up with a fungal disease if she lets her vegetables sit around the bottom drawer allContinue reading “The Best Breadcrumbs”

Corduroy

A story about an 11 year old boy’s small thoughts spurred by the feeling of corduroy fabric on his skin. A feeling that kept strangely and interestingly coming back in the form of memories and dreams at the age of twenty, the almost-age of fifty and his final year of nintey-two. A story that remainedContinue reading “Corduroy”

An Insomniac’s Morning Hours

When the call to prayer soundsand the sun’s about to rise,my thoughts restlessly dissectthis sorrow, that guilt, old lies. “I can’t keep up”, I say,“slow down and stop the mumbling!”But they answer with obtuse eloquence,lingering, rolling, and tumbling. How lucky I find those people,who are right now asleep.Their heartbeats slow and steady,their dreaming calm andContinue reading “An Insomniac’s Morning Hours”

Conditional

Whoever said a dog’s love is unconditional was greedy to be loved. Poor creatures, those furry friends… they take all the burden of ‘loving unconditionally’ just because they like to have a home, they enjoy routine. It’s our job is to love them unconditionally, not theirs. They can’t even speak for themselves to say: HowContinue reading “Conditional”

Fire Island Scribbles -2-

A cloudy humid day for smudgy Maybelline mascara. For Haruki Murakami’s maze of people and indirect insults. For imagining a world without women. For allowing oneself to imagine a world without women. For really not being so self-centred. For letting oneself not think about oneself. For broken Havaianas and lazy drags of flip-flopped feet alongContinue reading “Fire Island Scribbles -2-“

A Prism of Possibilities

This, today. I wish you could carve it along the walls of your home. One of the most remarkable ordinary days is occurring unreasonably.  Today had no incentive to start so kindly, but it did.  Something tells me that the magic of your growth is the actual source of this prismatic primitive feeling. This letterContinue reading “A Prism of Possibilities”

Bring Joy to Their Hearts

Once, upon a waning crescent moon during a spring in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, two apricot sellers wheeled their wooden carts down a long sandy curb outside of the market, a few hundred meters apart from each other. As the sun was packing to take its leave for the day, and so were the other marketContinue reading “Bring Joy to Their Hearts”

Rock Bottom

It’s past midnight now. After hours of online research with the commercial tunes of the latest Albanian hits playing from YouTube for inspiration, another good portion of my brain is officially numbed to render me calm and useless for work. I am sitting on the edge of the low windowsill with the window open, lookingContinue reading “Rock Bottom”