Anne Bradstreet (1612-78) was the first woman to be recognized as an accomplished New World Poet. Her volume of poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America ... received considerable favorable attention when it was first published in London in 1650. Eight years after it appeared it was listed by William London in his Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books in England, and George III is reported to have had the volume in his library. Bradstreet’s work has endured, and she is still considered to be one of the most important early American poets.
By Mah Noor
As I sat in the backseat
And looked in the mirror
All I felt was your glare
Filling me with fear
The blood on my hands
Ah, it was dripping clear
I can’t help but laugh
At the insanity here
I looked out the window
The closed doors were silent
Horror pierced through the spine
Just when I thought of screams
Of the dying souls
But then I felt at ease
And lay on my seat
As now I was free
I was going to rule
After killing the timid me
So I motioned you to drive
Drive past those slums
And closed my eyes in hope
The hope of happiness
The hope of freedom
By Ali Asghar Ghani
One dark night
deep in the forest
I met a firefly, glowing
Do you like day or night? I asked
She said,
‘No fireworks,
An ordinary bug I am during the day
I glow
only in the darkness of night.’
By Anam Afzaal
What If I told you
That everything I was afraid of happening; happened?
Setting me free to be a dead feather.
Weightless, joyless.
Lament me!
For breaking it to you
That betrayal leaves you alone,
In the desert at dusk, without water.
Evaporate your tears and soul.
By Hafza Noor
I wish,
When the sun went down,
And when the stars came,
So did serenity.
And down went sorrow.
I wish,
The next sun
Brings peace
And also happiness.
For the world feels tired,
When the sun goes down
And when the sun shines again.
Moon does shine,
But never did the hearts,
For they were blackened!
By worries on the earth
And those beneath it.
Compiled by SK