Kindling and Flame

Issue 12

When you asked me, I always said
Primly: ‘I am tethered to life
By a dream and by a prayer.’
No detector, no detective
Could have given me the lie,
 
Or discovered the roast and bread
Sliced by memory’s made-up knife
As I spoke. The rôti, finger-
Stripped in truth, laughs to see me live
Off spruced-up memories by
 
Spouting cliché after absurd cliché;
But the rôti is here, today,
Still saying more eloquently
Than the most profound homily:
Stay alive. Stay whole. Stay sane.
 
Like dancing flames
Convincing wood
To keep on burning,
Roasts and ice-cream
Bid me live on.

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Hibah Shabkhez is a writer and photographer from Lahore, Pakistan. Her work has previously appeared in Penine Platform, Rust and Moth, Think Journal, The Font, The Raven's Muse Magazine, and a number of other literary magazines.

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