Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals....
POETS’ CORNER
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty
of the world, and makes familiar objects be
as if they were not familiar.
Sylvia Plath
Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals.
Gwendolyn Brooks
Words can do wonderful things. They pound, purr. They can urge, they can wheedle, whip, whine. They can sing, sass, singe. They can churn, check, channelize. They can be a
Hup two three four. They can forge a fiery
army of a hundred languid men.
Rainer Maria Rilke
In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were
forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer,
and ask yourself, must I write?
By Shaheer Ali Khan
"Stay away," he cried, with tears in his eyes,
As I approached, questions filling my mind.
"I'm one who has constantly denied,
And left the principles of morality behind."
Rattled by the words he abruptly spoke,
I couldn’t bring myself to a calm state.
With doubt, I asked, "Just what do you mean?
These words of yours, I can’t relate."
Still crying, out of breath, he barely spoke:
"Lies and deceit are all I have given you.
Nothing true or fair do I have to offer—
I’ve done this since the first day I met you."
The words I heard felt foreign to me.
Time passed before their meaning was clear.
I took a deep breath and asked myself:
"Were the good times we shared insincere?"
I came to know he was suffering as well,
From a condition called compulsive lying.
It meant he couldn’t help but deceive—
Conflicted emotions, inside he was dying.
To leave him alone—how could I dare?
He mustered the courage and confessed.
With bright hopes to begin again, I said:
"Can’t we be friends once more?"
By Amna Ameer
I wish forgiveness
Came easily
In nicely wrapped packages
Always arriving at the right time
With no piece missing
There were no returns
Or exchanges
It would just, be
Added with a dose of
Forgetfulness
I wish I could say
I have received
And I have healed
And I have forgotten
Instead of remembering
Each painful detail
And every transgression
I wish my heart wasn't always this heavy
And my eyes wouldn't be brimming with tears
I wish I was a whole person
When I feel like
I'm always looking
For that feeling
Of being complete
I wish I owned my life
And stopped living
Like it was something borrowed
And I wish I knew all the answers
When all I do is wake up with questions
I wish I was as sure of happiness
As deserving I think I am of grief
I wish I could go on
But the list remains incomplete
I wish I could live life
The way it was
Before you spoiled it
Now everything smells of you,
And every good is laden with guilt
Something incriminating
Or just survivor’s instincts
All I know
Is that I'll never be absolved
Of your sins
For taking out the ache
Would mean letting go of life
And though I think
There's only my heart
Engrossed in yearning
And barely surviving
But there's more than one person
At stake