SHAZIA ALI - POEMS

Shazia Ali is a Professor of English at Eastfield College in Dallas, Texas. Shazia was born in Karachi, Pakistan and spent her childhood in Dubai. As a teenager she returned to Karachi and worked there as a journalist for 3 years. She has been living in Dallas, TX for over 20 years. She received her Ph.D in Humanities and Literature from the University of Texas at Dallas and has been writing poetry and fiction for the past decade. She has been published in several literary journals and is currently working on her book.  

Crushed ​

Her petals were soft, frail and supple, 
Glowing with a translucent red
While the edges bright yellow, 
Sparkling with a glimmer of gloss and glitz
She bloomed within the muddy confines 
Of a mangled and split shrub
Rising gingerly from a severed, sliced branch, 
She turned towards the light
Peeking hesitantly at the sky, 
Allowing the gentle wind to nudge her
She saw a golden castle, 
Shimmering in the sunlight, beckoning, inviting
Laying a path strewn with blooming roses, 
Glistening and gleaming
With drops of dazzling dew 
Illuminating the colors of the road ahead.
She arched, like a newborn babe, 
Towards the glittering castle,
Stretching a silky palm and a thin foot, 
Yearning ardently for that first step.
Then the breeze began to shift.
She turned, bewildered, puzzled,
Looking to the dismembered branch
That had valiantly held her aloft.
Awaked, it imprisoned her close, 
Viperously, menacingly, it twisted
Displaying the strength of a serpent
It coiled itself around her, contracting
She gasped. Convulsed. Strained
Against the tattered umbilical bond.
The mangled womb wrenched and tore
Pulverizing, cracking, splitting.
She pleaded, wept, resisted, 
Fought … surrendered.

​

​I Fell Through the Cracks

They took me from the arms of my weeping mother
While I was still waking from a dreamy sleep.
The clanging of the iron gates resounded while
I froze before the cold eyes of the tall man.
The gray of the floor remained steady
While I wobbled with every step on shaky knees.
It was over before the journey had even begun
And somewhere on that sterile path of life
I fell through the cracks and vanished. 

​

​The Sun and the Storm

Driving defiantly towards the darkening storm
With the pesky, chirpy sun shining behind me
I smilingly embrace each bolt of lightening
And the sporadic rumbling of a disgruntled thunder.
The comforting warmth of the Summer sun
Is an irritant that scratches and irks my back
While the bulky, heavy rain drops on the windshield
Splatter and sparkle, erasing the shadows and dust.
The beckoning rays of sunlight are complacent
They shine, smile, and lull the oblivious heart.
Then the rolling dark and gloomy skies growl
And the thundering reverberates within my chest.
Boom! Crack! The heart beats in sync with each bolt
And rudely awakens the sanguine and smug 
As each nerve expectantly tingles, and the heart 
Pounds with fire and vigor, lighting up the skies. 

​