Poems

May 12, 2007

Today, yesterday,
The day before
And other days to come:
Shar-e-Faisal aka Drigh Road is closed
C-L-O-S-E-D

No way into the city, no way out
All exits from the airport are
Closed. Bund.

I want to go home and breathe smoke
From bodies and tires burning
As brother-sisters from every side dead.
D-E-A-D

The city is closed.
Today it is because we moved us in and moved them out
And 60 years later, the city is closed. Again.

I am a people displaced and there are connections to be made
Between this fire and that
Between different displacements, exiles and choices.

And today all roads
To Quaid-e-Azam international Airport
Are shut down-closed.

A city and a people in flames
All linked to soil
This is mine-no, this mine
And on the zameen they fight
While the city remains closed.

I wake up in Houston
Thinking and breathing the smoke
On the other side
Babba watches tv
Ammi cooks a home without fire and electricity

And no airplanes in or out.
Today I picture it.
I see it.
And it is happening
People are dying. Again.

The city is closed
C-L-O-S-E-D.