Poetry

This is a companion piece to my poem “First Love”. It is an ode to the potency of memory, no matter how brief a relationship is. As...

One day, I will watch you playing in the olive groves And under the lemon trees. One day, I will watch you splashing in the sea, Laughing...

The only weapon I have, The only revolution at my disposal Is to teach my daughter The exact opposite of everything I learnt growing up....

Someday, a man will marry you, Not because he loves you, But because he loves the trappings of you. This, however, is a good thing...

I will endeavour to unlearn all that I have been taught By a diseased culture: Un-truths and half-truths Like synapses digging grooves in...

You walked into my garden much later in life. I didn’t expect that. After we’ve lived way past all our illusions And made peace with the...

Noureen, Born with the sun inside your skin. You trailed light and shadow in your wake. I went under, water filled my lungs and I...

One day you will think, “I am a fuse in the centre of an armed camp.” One day you will feel like the panther in Rilke’s poem, Moving...

My land, my home, my African heart You gave me language, character. You straddled two worlds like a giant. Now you are still. They cut...

Five steps from the shore, I dive and enter another world. A world defined by silence and riotous color. As my eyes and lungs adjust, I...

Forever is the word we whisper to our children As they fall asleep to the sound of sonic booms. It is the only gift we can give them, a...

All my poems are featured on Medium (https://medium.com/@asilrashid)