Poetry

"...a chronicler of vegetation unknown on earth..."

"...wind never moves their cattlemen’s hats..."

"...the assistant night manager lent me his gloves..."

"...whispering cowbirds wishing to be great horned owls..."

"...all day is worked to sunset strip..."

"...The machine is never satiated..."

"...Cameras are kept On hold. The director Is on leave...."

"... Adopted as a man of conscience, he spoke for the voiceless..."

Mubarak Said is the 3rd runner-up of the poetry category of the 2022 Bill Ward Prize for Emerging Writers. His works are forthcoming and published in many literary magazines local and international.

"...ever self-conscious to its fate or hunger or necessity..."

"...bound by years of love and shared experience..."

"...Funny how dreams don’t play by the same rules..."

"...magical aura born from a noble soul..."

"...my aloneness leaves me unfurled..."

"...let us first take these 'baby steps' into forevermore..."

"...a dogged dog bred to be discerning and bold..."

"...that day after that terrible storm faded..."

"Love is like a lobotomy..."

"...What I have done to change man’s trajectory, for better or worse, remains anonymous..."

"...The sequins off my dress scattered on the floor..."

"...wearing a uniform until it becomes your familiar..."

"...in a thronged square you are in focus again..."

"...Like a king at the family table..."

"...Love that transcends..."

"...I'm here to pour furious facts forth..."

Shaikh started writing at the age of eight and has since written over two hundred poems. He writes in English and Urdu, and his poems have been featured in international publications.

Nishi Pulugurtha is an academic and writer based in Kolkata.

"...I think I have one..."

"...The items we carry are not left at the side of the road..."

"...they remain stranded on an island engirdled by sharks the size of tankers..."