i return to los angeles to continue my studies; to go back to the life i am building for myself in order to heal from hometown trauma, let alone leave the drama behind. orange sparkled clouds upon berry eyes, i stare out and cry for my mother to hold me once more, once more a…
An ode to those who stayed. An ode to those who suffered. An ode to those who slept. An ode to those who prayed. An ode to those who stood. To the youth, the students, the alumni, the faculty. To the refugees, the immigrants, the eyewitnesses, and the delegators. To those who resided in peace…
restless in the night vigilant to what might come to harm when darkness arrives, i toss and turn on the pink sheets of my bed that hug me when loneliness wraps and strangles me ~ a claustrophobic turn, the gold within the fairy lights blend into the air, my sight blurry from the river my…
Down the bleak cascade, I see something wither, Smaller and Smaller, It comes and goes past Down the hurricane, As time flows, Nothing remains constant. I feel as if the world is something similar, Nothing remains as is, Everything shifts, And with time comes becomes bright again, Hope I see something another, Until then, All…
Life crumbles every day, Maybe for a second or a year, No hope to be seen from afar. I can’t see anything, I try to, But I can’t. My hope crumbles As I lose everything. My family, my dreams, my desires, All of them are broken, Crumbled to the floor one by one. If only…
Al-Wadood: the most loving my Lord loves me so divinely in the ways He has gifted me a new beginning in the angelic city, i always yearned for adventure, somewhere far from the people of my hometown who would mix cultural rules with religion, i was once a young girl dreaming of living on my…
Drowning By Umiemah Farrukh I know what it’s like to drown. It’s embedded in my mind clear as day I got shoved into the deep end by some kids at the pool I can still hear their laughter in my head, reveling in their cruel, beautiful joke. I remember the splash my body made as…
Underneath The Rubble by Umiemah Farrukh Underneath the rubble he cried out for his mother Somewhere between this world and the hereafter Is where he’d find her next Underneath the rubble a key, a dress, a wedding picture buried deep in the sand. How was her life this easily swept away when the earth decided…
The headlines are gone; the pain remains,The light of dawn merely reveals our ruined gains.The cameras are gone, but they didn’t leave with the rubble,The media moved on, but left behind is the future trouble.Suffering only began when the ground stopped to shake,Because the loss of everything was the real quake.We lost possessions and homes…
Başımız sağolsun Türkiye!Peace be with you, Syria!–I woke up in pain,though I’m not being searched for by a crane,Nor am I freezing under a bitter rain.I woke up in a bed that through the night lay still,I went and ate a breakfast, and had my fill –But I have never felt more ill. I can…