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.