These poems by Dipika Mukherjee are excerpted from her new collection, Dialect of Distant Harbors, out now by CavanKerry Press. The artwork here accompanies the poem “Wanderlust Ghazal” and is illustrated by artist Gladys Simpson.
bismillah the eyes stand before him as he knives deep into the throat of the bakra an act of adoration in another world he might have licked the knife never looking in the eyes of those killed he said he wasn’t hungry hours before the deed was complete he meant that in a dream the … Read More
Birmingham, England – July 2021: My cousins and I ran Around the house Picking hiding spots. Why are you hiding? My grandfather asked Who are you hiding from? It’s a game We laughed as I Stuffed myself inside the bathroom Lights off, crouched behind the door. He nodded You can’t hide from God He nodded … Read More
From simply looking at the cover photo of Myrmecophile, Ifti Nasim makes it clear that he is not here to hide any part of himself. The first image we have of him is a playful, subversive snapshot where he is decked out in full drag, donning a blonde wig, costume jewelry, pearls, and bangles. He … Read More
With my broken Urdu, I read Faiz/ Bloodstreams of Persian & Urdu ghazals run through your streets/ But Ghalib’s metaphors appear on my wounds/ And Iqbal’s verses purify my sins/ Mir’s wahshat is how I make sense of God/ I decipher each and every script/ I read blood/ I wear it like skin.
At 10 pm my mom got the call her eldest brother died. At 4 am she FaceTimed his face. At 6 am his smoke swirled clockwise into the smoke of strangers. 10 pm here is 7:30 am the next day there. 10 pm there is half past noon the same day here. At 10 pm … Read More
Sunando Sen was an Indian immigrant living in America. In 2012, at 46, he fulfilled his dream of opening a print shop in Manhattan. Six months later, a woman pushed him off a subway platform and into the path of an oncoming train. In her own words, she “hated Hindus and Muslims” and had been … Read More
Born in Lahore, Pakistan, hybrid-artist Ayesha Raees spent her childhood moving frequently. As displacement became a facet of her identity, it also started showing up as a common theme in her creative work. In many poems, such as in “SI Unit,” she describes her impartial existence being displaced from childhood to womanhood: “I spent much … Read More
Love Letter to the Biryani at Wahid’s, or A Joyous Poem in the Center Sheets of stapled steel fashion a fast shelter for the city’s appetites. Hungry, hungered, & hungering, may all in one night in these dense tendrils be converged. From all its next-doors, more spills onto the ear than the eye can hold. … Read More
