Sinking

By Amna Nadeem

Deeply involved and invested in you.

Sacrificing my sleep and time for you.

Waiting for you to text or call.

Positioning you above all.

Trying to understand.

Where I actually stand.

Overthinking.

And heartbreaking.

Slowly.

Sinking.

The insane me

By Zeba Aziz

The insane me

Is in love

With you

But you are asking

For the sanity

In me

Little do you know

The sane me

Will surprise

Your soul

The connection

You feel

Won’t be there

Anymore

Just to let

You know;

All of this

Will turn your

Soul insane

You will regret

Then

Unravelling of a tramp

By Ayesha Malik

I lay down on the pavement

My eyes clamped shut

I hear the blaring sounds

The daily grind and rut

The tandem of twisting times

Dulls the melodious chimes

As I see the privileged

Scurrying about unhindered

Under the green tresses

Nature slowly undresses

The chirping of birds

The swing of swirls

Branches, brambles and leaves

Shading me from the entreats

Of an exhausting strife

Of the urban man’s life

I am but a stone

Given a single bone

Yet I am not a dog

Who hunts and hogs

I am a human being

Thrown out into the street

What race, what parents

I am but an orphan

Forever forgotten

People take pity

I can’t take their charity

It won’t make me happy

I am the life of the pavement

I can make my own statement

I may be poor and torn

But never am I forlorn.

Year’s End

By Ted Kooser

Now the seasons are closing their files

on each of us, the heavy drawers

full of certificates rolling back

into the tree trunks, a few old papers

flocking away. Someone we loved

has fallen from our thoughts,

making a little, glittering splash

like a bicycle pushed by a breeze.

Otherwise, not much has happened;

we fell in love again, finding

that one red feather on the wind.

Compiled by SK