Poems for those lost in Kashmir Uprising 2016

Inshah Malik

I’m Antsy

These beautiful roads,
In the golden sunrise

While trees in rows,
Stand guard,
To our desires

These army jeeps
Meander in the roads
of our woes,
While, a young motorist
Feels breeze in his hair
riding in the
line of fire

A peep-hole
carved on his
bare chest
Can you look through
from our woes
to our desires?

I am antsy
For I ask?
Where shall we keep
His shattered blood?
And your
clump of lies

A constellation of stars

Where do you keep promises?
When they are broken
There aren’t no cupboards
To keep that sort of trash

When you break a heart
There is no way to see it
In a sobbing face
This is where
Your lies stink
And gaze

The constellation of stars
You left on their
Back and face

I feel knots in my finger tips
If I must touch
The bare scars of dissonance
Now go erase our words
And write your own
Or twist their meaning
And gain control

In my scattered words
I add feelings
To count for the horrors
That you inflict on us

Three teen lives

The three teen lives
Of pregnant hopes
Of a vibrant cause
In the midst of a song
In the width of a long
Road of exploration

The three teen lives
Of bumble bees
Of noisy birds
Sitting firm on the trees
Rowing relentless seas
With the oar of their spine

The three teen lives
Now mocking our lies
Those promises of skies
We repeated in schools,
mosques and homes

Keep my body

Keep my body
It’s a caged bird’s song
While It flew away
You will long
For something to cage

Keep my body
But my rage
It is mine
And let them see it

While you hold it
Singing lullabies
That will keep
Your crimes
From eating
Your soul

And in your
Hollow chests
Dangling witnesses
Cling to your veins
Like chiming bells

Keep my body
For more times
As you see it
Apparent as the sun
And clear as the sky
It will rise
It will rise

Inshah Malik is Kashmiri researcher, writer and poet currently based in Iran. She holds a doctorate in Gender and Political Theory. Her work is based on Kashmiri women in the resistance movement.

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