Song of Vengeance
Fatima Ijaz
I eye-hurried away from the glance of the black angel, wafting in the air like a siren, like a soul kept unquiet for a decade, akin to the mid-rest of a poem that started with blood.
I decided to pull out the old form of rancor from my lung.
Confront it with the intensity of toxic magic, of runic hell, of re-visitations. Temper it down as I spelt out fire with matchstick puppets.
No one can fathom the collapse of a house of cards, only the wind acknowledges. The taste of vengeance
Spills onto the unassuming bed-cloth. The rustle of leaves at the door,
acknowledges. The touch of succor
vanishes into the night. What we are left with is, eyes gauged out, rascal
bones broken.
Fatima Ijaz: “I am based in Karachi, Pakistan and teach English Composition and Speech Communication at IBA. I am a contributing editor at a literary publication – Pandemonium Journal. I graduated in English from Hartwick College, New York and York University, Toronto. I hold an MA in English Linguistics from Eastern Michigan University. I won first prize at the Mclaughlin Poetry Contest in Toronto (2007). I have participated in poetry and art collaborations which were featured at Music Mela 2019, Art Baithak 2019 and Taseer Art Gallery 2020. My poetry and prose has been published in or are forthcoming in isacoustic, New Asian Writing, Kitaab, Rigorous, Zau, Praxis, The Write Launch, Red Fez, Whirlwind, Naya Daur, Poetica Review, Ideas&Futures and Aleph Review amongst others.”
