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”

Fire Island Scribbles – 1-

A dialogue about people – I like raw people – So, like, what? You like them uncooked?  – …. Yes. I like them uncooked. Not even seared, not the slightest heat touching them.  – Do they also have to be whole? Or can they be sliced, chopped, julienned? – The knife can have touched them,Continue reading “Fire Island Scribbles – 1-“

Why Kombucha

Who’ll tell you why  Why we hope and dream  Why we tell ourselves first,  And each other later,  Lies that are half-truths:  Half in knowing, And half in not knowing  That we are never going to fully  Be in the knowing.  (Guess which half  Is more submerged in the self than the other.  Guess, then,Continue reading “Why Kombucha”

To Pour Out

… and then to just pour out of the cracked cup. Not from the rim like most people do – no – rather you’d be slowly tick tocking, drip dropping, out of the cup from the ruggedness of the crack. You won’t be so watery like most people are; you’d be thick like the consistentContinue reading “To Pour Out”

Marigolden

I felt like home among the golden glint of the Marigold flowers coddled under the belly of the sun.Miles away from home, an electric jolt of adrenaline nudged my heart so that my whole chest heaved when I breathed in.I felt like water. Or more like snow; wrong for a girl raised by a rockyContinue reading “Marigolden”

But First, Coffee

My eyes felt heavy, but I didn’t let them rest after the too-much they had stayed open for, and the much-more they were waiting for to happen. I blinked very fast, too. In case you turned to look my way and find me mid-blink, then you might have thought my eyes are resting so myContinue reading “But First, Coffee”

Mosaic

My consciousness is a mosaic designed with sharp shards and broken pieces of people, words and memories. The glue that keeps them together to make me whole is my subconscious. What you see is not all me. What you see is a part of others, put together by me. -Beisan AlShafei

Within Minutes

In times of distress, all I plan for is to take some space. One of the places I go to is the sea, I sit on the hood of my car to be lulled and hypnotized by the breaking of the water on the shore. I watch my besieged thoughts as they squander spontaneously oneContinue reading “Within Minutes”

It’s Not So Ordinary

It is not so ordinary, she thinks, weighing the ingredients for her daily dose of consolation. Falling asleep by a dim living room lamplight at 22.30, switching it off at 2.00, dragging my feet to my bedroom, ever so sluggishly, so that the demon breathing a heavy milky breath behind my ribs doesn’t wake. That’sContinue reading “It’s Not So Ordinary”

The Rich Man

There was once a man Who lost the joy in living. He saved all that he made And failed the charm of giving. * He knew that he was measured By the riches that he reaps. So why then does his conscience Feel lumbering when he sleeps? * A thread weaved through another Can makeContinue reading “The Rich Man”