local_library love amidst parked cars

by Rizwan Akhtar

Published in Issue No. 238 ~ March, 2017

Parked under chopped trees
at the heart of city are cars
empty and alone in rows
like a dead army of mettle
in hands parking them to perfection
with wild gestures
elbows and mad heads scampering
for space, and suddenly you say 
“ No! do not stop near this iron-filled space” 
there is a virus in your tongue
as if saving me from an invasion 
driving through boulevards and malls
for love of coffee and gibberish tones
when one can afford a silent stare,
a sparrow waiting for sunset and
a broken wire smashing the wall,
but again you say “ Watch out the road
they go out of eyes like promises ”

a talismanic creak from the rear

animate dented roofs
glossing a lustful calm, holding
the handle on door
amidst a herd of solid mass
hinging huffing
and whenever alone 
saunter at night
without screeching tires.

 

account_box More About

Dear Editors, Hope this correspondence finds you well. Please find enclosed my manuscript. I have poems published at the following places : Poetry Salzburg Review, Poetry NZ, Wasafiri, Postcolonial Text (Canada), decanto, Poesia (US), Exiled Ink, Pakistaniat : A Journal of Pakistani Studies(US), Solidarity International, Orbis, Edinburgh Poetry Journal, Alban Lake Publishing(US), The Other Poetry, Planet; The Welsh International, Wolf, South Asian Review, Grain, Illumen, Outposts, Gutter: New Scottish Writings, Under the Radar, Veranda, Open Road Review, The Waggle, Eastlit, Cortegena(US), ScottishPen, tinfoildresses (US), and in Bloodaxe anthology Out of Bounds (2011)”. I am working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Punjab University, Lahore Pakistan. I completed my PhD in postcolonial literature from the University of Essex, UK in 2013. I have published my poems in some of well-established poetry magazines of the UK, US, India, Canada, and New Zealand. I have also done a 5 weeks workshop on poetry with Derek Walcott at the University of Essex in 2010. I look forward to your response. Best Dr. Rizwan Akhtar Assistant Professor Department of English New Campus, Punjab University Lahore, Pakistan.