POETRY
I HAVE TO BE SELFISH
Published in Neutral Magazine 2020
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I have to be selfish this time,
she told him,
as she ended things,
without warning,
too much commitment, she said,
I have to be selfish this time,
she whispered,
as she turned her back,
to lick her wounds,
letting her friend bleed out,
I have to be selfish this time,
she warned her brother,
when he came for help,
but she’d done enough,
time to put herself first,
I have to be selfish this time,
she called to strangers,
as she walked through the silent streets,
abandoned to a disease,
that tore across the world,
I have to be selfish this time,
she said to the earth,
as she watched it burn,
because she’d needed things,
that poisoned the trees,
I have to be selfish this time,
I cried,
it echoed through the destruction,
drifting on the wind,
although there was nobody around to hear it.
DO SOMETHING
All lives matter
You cry
While Muslims cower in fear
Abused, segregated, lynched
​
All lives matter
You shout
As Yemenites plead for sanctuary
And you refuse refugees
​
All lives matter
You deplore
Yet you sexualise women
And patriarchy thrives
​
All lives matter
You type
Inside the safety
That white skin grants
​
Where were your shouts
When a man begged for breath?
​
Where were your declarations
When a woman lost her dignity?
​
Where are your donations
When war steals the screams of a child?
​
If all lives matter
Do something
WHORE
Man’s biggest prize,
Woody sheets wrapped neatly in flimsy plastic,
Fluctuating numbers flicker across a screen,
Glows in the glassy eyes of a pallid face,
Yet bestowed onto her for what?
Feigned intimacy and a piteous release,
Legs spread to reveal a discarded jewel,
They fought for her prized thing,
This thing that beats with the rhythm of a battle cry,
Not this useless body,
This depleted shell,
But her freedom,
It was won by a dead woman,
Laid lifeless before a stallion,
Her most prized possession,
Never to be parted with,
Lingers in the dank light,
But still he takes it from her,
In back alleys and marital beds,
Smothered screams and silent sobs,
She buys his treasure with the thing he snatches,
He never knows,
Never realises that it is him,
Who whores his emerald paper,
For something she cares little for,
His soul is heavier,
While his pocket rests lighter on trembling thighs,
Dirty,
Degraded,
She laughs at how easy he was,
How fickle,
How quickly he will part,
With man’s biggest prize.
REQUIEM
Where does love fly,
Soaring on reticent wind,
Dormant and still,
From splintered bosom,
​
It waits,
To come alive,
Or hopelessly stumble,
To bitter requiem.
SILENCE
A strangled cry
From scorched lungs
Too loud, too aggressive
For your delicate ears
​
But when I was meek
I was torn to morsels
Bruised body scattered
To hungry thieves
WE WILL REMEMBER YOU
My heart aches
Tears spill with sorrow
For a nation more enraged
At the tumble of stone
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Than for expired life
Under sharp knee of pallor
Carelessly distinguished
Crying out for mother
'ALL LIVES MATTER'
Another way to silence.
Another tool to diminish.
Another sentence to oppress.
BATTLE CRY
I battle for a world
with women unscathed
'me too' a dying memory
​
My feminism would not be
had I not cried and fought
under the weight of him
SNOWFLAKE
Beauty cascades from frozen clouds
Graceful dancing to land on the welcome ground
Steaming, angry words of contempt
Cowardly flung from behind impervious screen
Bent necked stems contort towards the sky
Petals flutter delicately to lie on sun-kissed soil
Crumpled words falling from the face of fear
Furious and bitter, landing with spittle and venom
‘Snowflake’ he fires,
Staring at the person he despises the most
‘Snowflake’ she implores
The only word in her arsenal
Reflections cower
Glass quivers
Illusions shatter
With the delicacy of a snowflake
RUNNING
Elapsed fear glides like a ghost
Rousing a pulse to throb against slick skin
Memory of untold dread
Of what might be
And has already been
Every sound, each creak and groan of a pipe
Carries heart to throat
Sweat to the surface of shivery skin
Hands tremor while silent tears fall
To a bitter end of what has already been