Poetry Highlights by MWS Members
And a reminder to keep bravely writing
Surely one of the great gifts that poetry gives us is its expanded, experimental vocabularies that enable us to feel more wisely.
Not long ago, we held a Writing Emotion workshop, in which we explored and pushed the boundaries of metaphors to describe feelings. What does it mean to feel spacious, unrooted, heart-full, stiff, or together?
We invite you to use these as prompts in your own writing, but first, some poems from our members, beginning with novelist and fellow Substacker Ambata Kazi:
Together is to gather
petals rimming the bud
holding hands, backs arched
catching the sun, calling the bees.
We have a purpose, it is one.
It is harmony
a hum
voices hitting the same note
at the same time
sound waves shimmering
up to the heavens.
It is your image
facing a line of mirrors
one hand, raised
becoming all hands
one smile, skin folding, teeth splaying
a dazzle to break the glass.
It is the turning of a wheel
the clock’s hand touching the next minute
gears shifting into place
together
to produce one
magnificent
mundane
tick.
Every Monday on our membership platform we share a couple of writing prompts to kickstart the week’s creative engines. One recent prompt was to write a piece that included the words “jocular”, “flimsy”, and “weft”.
Here’s what Afaaf Rajbee came up with:
To weave a fabric of life
Cut the cords with a knife
Lay a warp of good words
Lace a weft of hard work
With bismillah from right to left
And where the hems are flimsy and bereft
Add a jocular sequin hem
Not because it pleases men
But for the way it gleams
When we come apart at the seams.
A lil’ reminder that memberships to the Muslim Writers’ Salon will be closing soon – apply at this link!
This poem, capturing how so many of us feel, is by Kaleemah Muttaqi and shared on her IG page:
As always, we are conscious of working in the context of multiple ongoing genocides, and are thinking especially of those writers, journalists, teachers and booksellers who are persecuted daily for doing their essential, mind- and heart-expanding work.
On the 9th of February, the Palestinian owners of the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmad, were arrested by Israeli military, their bookshop trashed and any books that carried a Palestinian flag confiscated.
Tellingly, the soldiers couldn’t read the (English-language) books themselves, and had to use Google Translate to figure out if they were ‘dangerous’. The Munas were initially charged with “inciting and supporting terrorism”, a charge that was later revised to “disturbing the public.” Read more about the Munas case here.
Writing and publishing these days can feel scary, under the pressure of mounting autocratic governance that spurns freedom of speech and intellectual inquiry. The answer, to us, is not to buckle under this intimidation, but to strengthen our voices all the more.
To do this, we need people who will support us in this onerous task, keep us accountable, and amplify the call for free speech. If you want this kind of company, MWS memberships are open for a few more days only – apply here.
I’ve been following you work for a long time, and am not quite sure I can commit to anything these days except preserving my sanity with my 8 month old and keeping my writing practice. I’m in New York time and I’m curious what writing meet ups are like in Ramadan? And how often do you meet up virtually? I shared it in notes and hope you find lots of new members!!