Sheikha A. - Two Poems

Coelho’s Desert

I once lived in a desert,

similar to the one Coelho speaks of;

I may not have traversed the sand

or left footprints of my soul on it,

but I recognise the scent he describes

and the four-point winds that fill

my eyes and mouth with its character

eccentricities.

I wasn’t born with a fickle mind.

Surely, the grains of that desert have

been pervious to my curiosities,

to have me in an eternal, ambulant search,

for the scent of my soul has displaced;

but Coelho’s desert is vast

with the need for a compass,

whereas mine fawns

under a powerful sun,

disoriented, dislocated,

tracking nothing but my scent

to guide me home.

Santiago

if you visit my city,

you will have travelled far

for what the moon didn’t show

in Tarifa or Tangier,

you will see the bloodless white

glowing shamelessly through;

the sky is a dark-grey

having forgotten how a horizon breaks

or folds across the sea-line

or how the camel coloured shores

don’t implode under the touch of feet;

you may gaze at our honour-bound

beauty

so long as you keep it unclaimed –

the nocturnal winds are sharper

than the bullets from men’s rifles –

and your sheep would taste

burnt meat over our rain-perished

fields.

Santiago,

if you visit my city

don’t be alarmed for the desert it is not,

because the moon does lose to an eclipse

every fortnight.



Sheikha A. is the author of Spaced (a poetry collection published by Hammer and Anvil Books, 2013) and poetry editor for eFiction India whose works have appeared in numerous publications such as Red Fez, Mad Swirl, American Diversity Report, The Penmen Review, Danse Macabre du Jour, The Rainbow Journal, Sunlit amongst several anthologies as well. She currently writes from Karachi, Pakistan. Her real name is Umm-e-Aiman Vejlani.