She strode through the alley among a sea of patrons consuming liver and daal. Dressed in hues of grey her dab of crimson lipstick lent color to the day.

Language One My native tongue is my mama’s whispers as she wakes for prayer in the early dawn. Absorbed effortlessly in the humid afternoons of Muharraq – with its medieval neighbourhoods, sun-baked alleyways where the dripping ACs cultivate rogue vegetation. Its sounds are coastal, its tones lap sweetly like the Gulf’s gentle waves dancing at [...]

In memory of my dear friend Muhammad Alhawaj, who died of Coronavirus while studying in Saint Petersburg (originally posted in 2020 but edited in 2023) No Friendly Face  This urban maze! no friendly face, a sprawl of blocks, the viral spread. Struck down you were, thrown off, defaced the final room in waft of dread. [...]

CODE SWITCHER Homie, I’m a code switcher Rule ditcher, verse pitcher They call me the glossary enricher Word stitcher, poetic bewitcher When I pen my letters, they say I’m quite lettered A vocab trend setter, unchained, untethered I say it better, while you stutter and dither I can’t be bettered, semantically unfettered! I encode the [...]

Arabic translation of Nazim Hikmet’s Poem Yaşamaya Dair, On Living للشاعر:  ناظم حكمت عربها من التركية:  وائل المهدي (2010) 1 العيشُ ليس مزاحاً: عش بجديةٍ كبيرة مثل سنجابٍ، مثلاً أعني، بدون أن تتطلعَ لشيءٍ وراء أو خارج العيش أعنى أن يُصبحَ العيشُ شُغلَك الشاغل، وجهدَك الجهيد.  خُذ العيشَ بجديةٍ أعني: لدرجةِ أنك، مثلاً لو كانت يديك [...]

For the secret love of fate And the bare rock of destiny I will fain sacrifice myself