Urdu lover

I hold onto you
with the intensity of breath
clinging to air
I don't let go and I know
this frightens you
I am a wave that holds on
because I hear your call
to be held
a Jin that looks beyond
into your deepest secrets
because there I truly see you
and all that is held there
and while you hold me
you tell me this cannot be
even though it already is
My Urdu lover
I cling to you
you cling to me
your God cannot control 
that which is free and untamed

Lifted

Somehow, it feels
like forever
in this moment
your arms are red
wrapped around
my waist

I am floating, lifted
like a rag doll
in your existence
skin on skin
I am safe in this space

Let this last
because I believe
with every inch of knowing
even in this transience
I still believe in love

Lockdown

There were better times
we know that now
as we huddle in isolation
telling each other
we're all in it together

the truth is
we're all in it for ourselves

we distance from one another
and strip supermarket shelves
because death is a terrifying prospect
it means we could be left in the dark, alone
we gave up the idea of God long ago

our new society of fabric masks
are only an extension
of the ones we already wear
we're used to hiding behind multiple layers
they should feel natural
eyes, peering over the top
remind us of our humanity

we wait

because mother nature has other plans
while we quiver in death's face
she repairs our multitude of sins
now we live them from behind closed doors
in lockdown
away from judgement
away from peering eyes
we're left alone to face ourselves
and our darkness
to let mother nature do her job
because we know we can't
we had our chance and failed

and we wait
for better times
huddled together in our clusters
while the sun
continues to shine down on us

- Melbourne, August 2020

(Poem written and created as part of a spoken word video, link here)

Emotions run deep

like wild fire through her veins

a phoenix reborn

(Poem from My Beautiful Scars)

The kookaburras

It was just like yesterday

when we sat on your porch

feeding the kookaburras
you folded mince

between your fingertips

and placed it on the railing  

knowing that at any moment

the birds would fly in

it was one of those mornings

when the sun had come up

and the air was still fresh

with the dawn
we didn’t talk a lot

not because we had nothing to say

but because the silence

meant much more

I knew this was going to be

one of those moments

a memory that stays with you
to be recollected

I think you knew that too

we thought it would last forever

and had all the time in the world

(Poem from My Beautiful Scars)

Sound of rain

If we stand here
on the edge
admiring the vastness
of all things
this eternal silence
is loud enough
to move mountains

yet so still

in a moment
you are everything
and all that ever was
I am reminded
of how it sounds
when it rains

(Poem from my poetry chapbook, Ruminations)