2011 – Tasneem Dairywala

Maggie

He sneaks a quick look from behind his thick math textbook. He can’t see where he’s headed. But he can see her bright blue runners dart this way and that across the gray tiled floor to avoid the mad crowd. He knows he is a freak for following her around like this. He should justContinue reading “Maggie”

The Cockroach Eater

I watched my mother suffer, day after day, month after month; she grew weaker and weaker while her belly grew larger and larger. I asked her kindly to not eat so much since she threw up a lot. But every time, she just laughed at me. In the three short years of my life, IContinue reading “The Cockroach Eater”

Clusters

Imagery: a language that can set the moisture on one’s tongue, the hum in one’s ears, the tingle in one’s skin, the beat in one’s breath, and the blobs of colour that swim underneath one’s eyelids, to shape a story that the mind senses. Figurative language: words that string together layers of meanings, to describeContinue reading “Clusters”

I Remember

When you came up with me from the car to my hospital room, I was holding back tears, Maybe you were too. You had been told to pray in my ears While I lay in my bed and tried to sleep. But you didn’t believe too much in prayers, In what they couldContinue reading “I Remember”

Road

It was a trail first, Soft, Crumbly with dead leaves everywhere. Colourful and beautiful it was, But there were too many patches that made us fall, Made us angry, Made us want to curse at it all. But then the trail strengthened, With years of footsteps loving it. It started sprouting plants as the deadContinue reading “Road”

Aphrodite of Cyrene

Sensual, She stands, Poised on the pedestal, Revealing her naked beauty, She doesn’t care when people stare. It’s been a long time Since she tried To make the marble surrounding her Crack through the power of her will, To make the amazed faces looking upon her in awe Turn away with shame. For ages sheContinue reading “Aphrodite of Cyrene”

The Family Glue

She wakes up Only so she can make us all breakfast. One by one, We all get up, Not caring too much about the time, Or about the fact that she must want to go back to bed. She says it doesn’t matter. She sleeps during the day. When nobody is there,Continue reading “The Family Glue”

Shyness

Shyness presses her back against the club wall. She hopes no one will turn her way, See her trembling in her too-short skirt and the pounds of make up that her sisters Vanity and Lust forced her to put on. Shyness keeps her eyes down, Wills herself to not look up in case some oneContinue reading “Shyness”

A moment of no forgetting:

I was wearing three layers of clothes with a thick jacket on top. And we were walking. And it was raining. And I was cold. And he was cold. We had held hands a few minutes before And then grudgingly let go to put them back in our pockets, As it was freezing. Continue reading “A moment of no forgetting:”

Support

Support, I owe my life to you. You pulled me out of the shell of darkness I had retrieved into. You came in with a candle and instead of pushing me towards the blinding light, you sat inside my stifling cave. You wore a hard hat, in case I got violent. You wore a softContinue reading “Support”