TWO POEMS by FARYAL RASHID
October 2 2024(U are) wishing on a star
Facts are bigger in the dark! If you lie on the floor very straight the temperature(s) of all the pulses in the world coarse right through you
Suddenly the distinction between a loon and a regular becomes much less important
Lying down means you can read and understand the loon book
Slipknots and silk and
a pistol auto 9 mm fashioned out of unimaginative heavy metals
Stainless steel starting more than it can finish
******************************************
It was the year of the dancer
Hot pressure morning a houseful of tumbling voices still we lie on the ground very straight Stationary
The other kids bigger and older walked in front sometimes breaking into a run knees drooping all the way to the pavement skin contorting into
All sorts of strange proportions forming between them
draining every last ounce of Wiz-dom
/ Ghosts rustling carelessly like a shitty old map breathing down my neck with the same inane questions
U seem moody today. Anything wrong ?
EVERYTHING
IF YOU SLEEP YOU SHALL DO WELL
The new disease creeps in and
washes over Swift and Sadistic
A fifteen minute exposure is all it takes
The moment you realise what has happened you are already swimming safely to extinction
Some smart people say in times like these you should never kiss and tell
This is not the hour to howl colossal intimacies they say
Nor to dwell on the relative importance of things
After all
Tantrums still have a cruel way of turning into law
Perhaps it is best to stay quiet when
You don’t know which hand to caress or to claw
Fighter planes still dive about in the hot white wind
Pressing their fat metallic noses right against the tip
The pockets inflating quickly with money keys and film
It is best to stay quiet then
lest they take what’s yours too
One glance in the wrong direction
and they won’t care if it’s him or you
Faryal Rashid is sat on the sidewalk thinking u should always Stay Vigilant! Pay close attention to the ceiling and what happens when u stare up above.