poetry-magazineDeus ex Machina: A GhazalBy Mag GabbertA teacher once said chaos touches everyone, so that became my refrain. Did we want to lose all we had… Related Audio LoveDesire & PassionReligionFaith & DoubtThe MindDoubt & ContemplationVerse FormsGhazal
poetry-magazineWundrkut Forever GhazalBy Hari AlluriWhere are you now? Must we say farewell tonight? So many of us wonder. God sobs in my arms, a wounded gazelle tonight. They stay for wonder.Up in a pot of rice, up from a human zoo. Twisting, sleeping heads of...Social CommentariesWar & ConflictLivingDeathVerse FormsGhazal
poetry-magazineMoon GhazalBy Dorianne LauxI can’t remember the first time I saw it, seems it wasalways there, even with me in the womb, the moon.It must have been night, above the ocean, making a pathon the waves, gilded invitation, the parchment moon.Or the day... Related Audio LoveRomantic LoveNatureStars, Planets, HeavensVerse FormsGhazal
poetry-magazineGhazal for DogeatersBy Danni QuintosSomeone yelled, That dog gonna end up in a pot of rice!at Margaret Cho & she tells the story in her stand-up, as a joke.When I waited tables, someone’s dad ordered flied lice.Someone’s brother made a dog-meat-in-the-eggrolls joke.In 1904, they...Social CommentariesRace & EthnicityVerse FormsGhazalAnger
poetry-magazineALZ GhazalBy Rebecca FoustIt’s the same house, same rugs, same wallpaper, and bedroom repeating;same dresser; same rocker. Same window and frame, repeating.Same birds at the pane, same pots and pans, and—on the alarm clock,the wall clock, the phone clock—the same time, repeatingeach hour’s...LivingHealth & IllnessSorrow & GrievingThe BodyVerse FormsGhazalAnxiety & InsecurityDisappointmentGrief + 2 more
poetry-magazineGhazalBy Edil Hassanit is dark here & still you have al nur at your neck when fajr does not comemy body is the color of mourning / not dua or dawah / so I say let the day comemy body is fajr...Social CommentariesRace & EthnicityReligionIslamThe SpiritualRelationshipsHome LifeVerse FormsGhazalGriefOptimism + 4 more
poetry-magazineGhazal: With PrayerBy Zeina Hashem BeckThe herons were no longer safe in the sky. They flew with prayer,then fell to us. We hid them from the cats. What to do with prayer?Decades after the civil war, we enter the sniper’s hole, sewthe sandbags, read words...LoveHeartache & LossSocial CommentariesWar & ConflictReligionFaith & DoubtVerse FormsGhazalGrief + 2 more
poetry-magazineThat’s My Heart Right ThereBy Willie PerdomoWe used to say,That’s my heart right there.As if to say,Don’t mess with her right there.As if, don’t even play,That’s a part of me right there.In other words, okay okay,That’s the start of me right there.As if, come that day,That’s... Related Audio LoveClassic LoveRomantic LoveRelationshipsVerse FormsGhazal
poetry-magazineInfinity Ghazal Beginning with Lice and Never Ending with LiesBy Tarfia FaizullahLice? My aunt once drew a comb through my hair steady;she wouldn’t let what feeds on blood eat my inner tree.Where now is the word for such intimacy? I know it still,but all I see are jungles burnt of our...NatureTrees & FlowersSeas, Rivers, & StreamsSocial CommentariesWar & ConflictHistory & PoliticsVerse FormsGhazalAngerGriefJoy & Contentment + 4 more
poetry-magazine“Where did the handsome beloved go?”By Jalal al-Din RumiTranslated By Brad Gooch & Maryam MortazWhere did the handsome beloved go?I wonder, where did that tall, shapely cypress tree go?He spread his light among us like a candle.Where did he go? So strange, where did he go without me?All day long my heart trembles like...LoveHeartache & LossLivingDeathSorrow & GrievingVerse FormsGhazalGrief
poetry-magazineGhazal for Becoming Your Own CountryBy Angel NafisKnow what the almost-gone dandelion knows. Piece by pieceThe body prayers home. Its whole head a veil, a wind-blown bride.When all the mothers gone, frame the portraits. Wood spoon overBoiling pot, test the milk on your own wrist. You soil,...LoveHeartache & LossLivingMarriage & CompanionshipThe MindSolitudeVerse FormsGhazalTypes/ModesEkphrasisGriefLoneliness + 5 more
Ghazal, After FergusonBy Yusef KomunyakaaSomebody go & ask Biggie to oratewhat's going down in the streets.No, an attitude is not a suicide notewritten on walls around the streets.Twitter stays lockstep in the frontal lobeas we hope for a bypass beyond the streets,but only each...Social CommentariesRace & EthnicityWar & ConflictHistory & PoliticsVerse FormsGhazal
poetry-magazineGhazal for White Hen PantryBy Jamila Woodsbeverly be the only south side you don’t fit ineverybody in your neighborhood color of white hen brown bag tupperware lunch don’t fill youafter school cross the street, count quarters with white friends you love 25¢ zebra cakes mom would...Social CommentariesCities & Urban LifeRace & EthnicityVerse FormsGhazalAngerDisappointment
poetry-magazineHip-Hop GhazalBy Patricia SmithGotta love us brown girls, munching on fat, swinging blue hips, decked out in shells and splashes, Lawdie, bringing them woo hips. As the jukebox teases, watch my sistas throat the heartbreak, inhaling bassline, cracking backbone and singing thru...Social CommentariesGender & SexualityArts & SciencesMusicTheater & DanceVerse FormsGhazalGratitudeJoy & Contentment + 2 more
GhazalBy Agha Shahid AliI’ll do what I must if I’m bold in real time. A refugee, I’ll be paroled in real time.Cool evidence clawed off like shirts of hell-fire? A former existence untold in real time ...The one you would choose: Were you led then...Social CommentariesWar & ConflictReligionTime & BrevityVerse FormsGhazalAngerGrief
Points of ContactBy Kyle DarganName one revolution whose inception was unlike a fist.Factions disparate, then tucked together—coiled like a fist.Foreign policies are symbol languages—idiomatic, cryptic.In America, nothing says "We desire peace" like a fist.The heart is a one-man rave in the body's industrial district.Blooddrunk...Social CommentariesHistory & PoliticsLivingThe BodyThe MindVerse FormsGhazalTechniquesRefrainSimile + 3 more
It Is with Words as It Is with PeopleBy Anthony MadridIt is with words as it is with people: Actual beauty is rare.We call things beautiful, not as such, but because of what they mean. Because we commonly attribute beauty to whatever does us a favor,We are reduced to puzzled despair...The MindDoubt & ContemplationArts & SciencesLanguage & LinguisticsPoetry & PoetsVerse FormsGhazal
Derecho GhazalBy Luisa A. IgloriaAnd the high winds bore down, and the skybuilt up that grey wall: derecho.The taverns by the sea closed their shutters,and the stands selling battered fries, derecho.On the boardwalk, pieces of salt-water taffy, half-eaten funnel cakes oozing grease and cream:...NatureWeatherVerse FormsGhazalAnxiety & Insecurity
RainBy Kazim AliWith thick strokes of ink the sky fills with rain.Pretending to run for cover but secretly praying for more rain.Over the echo of the water, I hear a voice saying my name.No one in the city moves under the quick...LoveBreak-ups & Vexed LoveHeartache & LossNatureWeatherVerse FormsGhazal
Horse Horse Hyphen HyphenBy Marilyn ChinI. I hate, I love, I don’t know howI’m biracial, I’m torn in two Tonight, he will lock me in fearIn the metal detector of love Rapeflowers, rapeseeds, rapiersA soldier’s wry offerings He will press his tongueInto my neighing throat I can speak three dialects...Social CommentariesRace & EthnicityWar & ConflictHistory & PoliticsRelationshipsFamily & AncestorsVerse FormsGhazalStanza FormsCoupletJoy & Contentment + 4 more