There was once an apple
The Gala variety
She would preen and pose all day
For all the world to see
The other apples told her
To be fruity and be kind
To watch the world quietly
But Gala paid no mind
One day while the apples
Sat in the produce aisle
A naughty little child came by
With a naughty little smile
They looked at him quietly
Maybe he’d go away
But Gala preened, oh she beamed
She loved being on display!
The little boy saw the apples
And almost passed them by
But then as she did a little jig
Cheeky Gala caught his eye
He pounced on the dancing fruit
She would be his lunch
Your imagination should tell you that
The next sound was a - “Crunch”!
Category: poetry
KIDSBOOKS | THE WONKY TOY BLOCK
There was once a toy block
The kind that’s in a set
Of twenty blocks all sharp and square
Some blue and others red
Bendy Block stood starkly out
Because she was quite grey
She also had one dented edge
That made her lean sideways
While the other blocks climbed up
To build a tunnel or a house
Bendy would lean back and watch
As timid as a mouse
She’d straighten to ninety degrees
From the surface where she sat
But within a minute or two
She’d slowly lean right back
One day the building blocks all heard
A loud crash from within
The family photo had fallen down
With a mighty gust of wind
The glass was whole but the stand
Had broken into two
The lady tried to mend the break
With a tube of super glue
But that didn’t work so she looked
Around for inspiration
She spied the bendy little block
And used it for elevation
The photo with its smiling faces
Stands again up on the dresser
Bendy is the happy prop
As the frame now leans back on her.
KIDSBOOKS | THE LONELY SNOWMAN
There was once a snowman
He had a heart of gold
He had stood in that one cold spot
For a hundred years or more
He had not seen sign or form
Of any man or beast
And so he had just waited on
Patient and solitary
It was over a century
Of his being in the expanse
That he saw the shadow of …
Could it be? Yes, a man!
He tried to wiggle his carrot nose
But it was frozen solid
Just like his eyes and his mouth
So he focused his energy inwards
He thought of jolly polar bears
And penguins in the sun
And then he thought of ice cream
Chocolate seemed like fun!
With all these happy musings
He started melting inside out
The little trickle from his eyes
Became a gushing spout
The man then saw the snowman
And came up close to him
He held a little cup up
And had a little drink
Then he took his scarf off and
Gently wrapped it around
The shrinking neck; it was a thank you said
For the kindness he had found.
KIDSBOOKS | THE SORROWFUL NUMBER SIX
There was once a lonely 6
Who lived with all the 9s
He was always bullied
For his minus three design
The 9s would throw mathematical
Enigmas out at him
“3 times 3 or 5 plus 4
Will never be your thing!”
6 would mope around all day
Adding and multiplying
Sometimes standing on his head
In hopes of becoming 9
But a solid 6 he stayed
Not budging to even 7
Despite using big numbers
Like 17 minus 11
Then one day a little girl
Came and sat at one of the desks
She was all of 6 years old
With 6 curls on her forehead
When the teacher asked her to
Choose her favourite number
She pointed to 6, and then counted it
Out on her little fingers
That special day the whole class drew
Pictures of the number 6
Amid bright flowers and super powers
On every page he skipped.
KIDSBOOKS | THE ELEGANT DUO
Shelby was a graceful snail
Folks said he had blue blood
His shell had a lovely turquoise tinge
He buffed it with wax and gloves
From leafy shrubs to the ground
He’d slither and he’d glide
He’d peer at all who came his way
With a monocle on his left eye
He never spoke to anyone
Not the earthworms nor the flies
The lady snails and the misses slugs
Looked on with great big sighs
But master Shelby stayed aloof
His heart was not a prize
To give to pretty girls who would
Gaze at him with roving eyes
One day while he was gliding along
With his monocle and cravat
He saw the most exquisite toad
With an umbrella and bowler hat
He slowly moved his eye stalks
In gracious acknowledgment
He was a toad with taste, so he made haste
To say hello to the gentleman
It has now been five years since
That elegant friendship was made
Shelby Snail and Toad O’Toole
Are still the very best of mates.
KIDSBOOKS | THE GREEDY MARMOSET
There once lived a marmoset
On the edge of the Amazon rain forest
He was especially friendly,
He loved all of the tourists
Mangoes and bananas
Would always lure him out
He would greedily pop these
Into his little mouth
His parents often told him
“Be thoughtful little son,
Don’t be such a greedy glut
With your sisters do share some”
But Marny and his tummy
They had other plans
And so he ate and ate until
He was three hundred grams
One day while sitting in a tree
Waiting for folks with treats
A harpy eagle spotted him
And plunged down, ready to feast!
As Marny scrambled to escape
His tummy got in the way
The raptor would have snatched him up
But his mummy saved the day
They say Marny is a changed primate
A sweet, generous furball
He meets and greets his visitors
And then shares his food with all.
VERSE | THE FAIRYTALE
A little disclaimer: This particular piece is not a critique of the institution of marriage itself, but the warped manner in which it is used to keep young women in check. To prevent them from breaking through the heavily-manned barriers created for them by society.
LISTEN TO THE POEM BEING READ AT: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSddAaCSr/?k=1
Yes, I waited a great big while
For my knight in shining armour to arrive
To sweep me off my impatient feet
To finally enable me to start living my life
He came to our door, not on a steed
That’s the whimsical stuff of fairytales
Not really rigged for the 21st century
The rest of the story I was sure prevailed
And so he came to our house in a car
His mother and his sisters too
I dutifully served them tea and samosas
His eyes were fixed on me like glue
I tried to think of what I felt
Did he stir something in my heart
Did I feel a like-mindedness
Was he the catalyst to my big, bright start!
The only thing rolling around in my head
The only thing that I could really see
Was the freedom to do all that I couldn’t now
That sunlit pathway stretched ahead of me
I remember I smiled a little too much
He grinned like a loon right back
And so it was decided auspiciously
That we’d be married in three months stat!
The wedding was done, it was T-plus six months
And I sat at my dressing table
I looked at the face of the woman in front
Was she the euphoric lass of fables?
She looked back at me confusedly
I pretended I didn’t quite read
What her eyes were so desperately telling me
That rabbit hole was just too deep
I looked away, this wasn’t the first time
Of my inability to face the ghosts
Of broken hearts and shattered dreams
Of being deluded, of feeling lost
I had grown up believing with all my being
That my best life lay ahead
When I took on the mantle of someone’s wife
That’s what age-old tradition said
But that’s not true, I now know
When I can’t look at myself in the mirror
There are shackles anew, I’m so confused
My dreams couldn’t have been frailer
And so I wait yet again, but now
Free of mythical notions and guiles
For when I can find the courage to be
Who I am, who I really have been all this while.
VERSE | KNIGHT SPIDER
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I saw a little spider today
Weaving itself a delicate pathway
In silken thread and gentle strides
It made its way up the side
Of the glass wall close to me
I kept watching it carefully
Partly because horror flicks
Have made me squirm around these arachnids
But mostly because of the enterprise
It put into its little life
It climbed halfway up the glass
And then a gust of wind alas!
Tore its thready ladder up
It swayed before going plop!
Right onto the table where
I sat with my coffee to stare
At this busy creature lift
Its body up bit by bit
I moved back in mild alarm
Not because I’d come to harm
That was not the thought I had
My arachnophobia got me to stand
It sat there a little concussed I think
Before it gathered up its wits
And off it went climbing again
Forming anew, repairing
With so much drama in its life
Buffeting winds, with predators rife
The spider stays focused on its goals
It weaves its web, mends broken holes
We can learn a thing or eight
From this marvellous arachnid
To go on even when we’ve gone plop!
To persevere, to climb back up
Folks, if little spidey can be
A superhero, so can we.
VERSE | DO YOU REMEMBER?
Do you remember when you felt the blood
Gushing through your body
You felt it etch into your being
All the kindness, courage and love
That you thought you could ever feel
And your heart sang!
Do you remember how your breath
Caught in your throat. The sheer shock
Of those emotions rocking you inside
You felt so overwhelmed that your tear ducts
Felt the strain. You blinked your wet eyes
And your heart sang!
You looked straight ahead
The wave kept rising in your chest
You felt like you were everything
That you were meant to be. Your atoms ricocheted
With those around you. Nature played
A little bit of handball as she caught
Your atoms in her hands and passed her own to you
And your heart sang!
Do you remember feeling like this was
The perfect moment in your time
In your space, in your place
And everything had come together that day to remind you
That your heart was aligned with all
That defined you as the happiest version of yourself
And oh your heart, it sang!
You don’t remember - not really. Neither do I. I mean
I remember the warmth in my being, the love flowing out
In waves, in rivers. A oneness with the essence of the world
But beyond that, I can’t remember; I can’t evoke the feeling
Something has gone awry, something has been lost
Along the way
But I still see its ghost flitting
Vaguely passing before my eyes when I am still
But my heart, it doesn’t sing.
VERSE | SHE WAITS
The mynah came to my window today
She warbled a happy song
She bobbed her head, waiting to be fed
And her little mate trilled along
The man on the street looked at me
As I plied my usual route
He didn’t beg, but his eyes said
I’d be grateful for some food
The server brought my coffee and smiled
His eyes were big and bright
He had good news, to share with those
Who would talk to him a while
The little child came out to the porch
Holding her favourite doll
There she sat, for her beloved Dad
For when up the path he’d walk
The earth embraces our right and wrong faces
Holding every atom together
For when we’d awake and for our own sake
We would ease her burden a feather
The mynahs were fed and off they went
The man on the street did the same
The server smiled, a Dad hugged his child
But Earth, she looks on and waits
VERSE | WAR
LISTEN TO THE POEM BEING READ AT: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLSPk6FW/
Cannons boom, bombs explode
The world is the home of war
Lieutenants give crisp commands
To their soldiers, weary and sore
The tribunal sits in their gilded halls
Drinking their whisky tea
The senior most is ninety years old
The youngest is seventy three
They take pride in stoking this war
‘Tis the battle of righteous men
Sending sons and daughters to fight
While they cackle in unison
There’s chaos and killing; a dread that is stilling
The conflict they’ve wrought makes no sense
The old men don’t care, as war trumpets blare
Charged by the flourish of their pens
Soon the booming cannons and the bombs
Will end their brutal repartee
Of slashing and slaying - their bloody tribute paid
To their masters across the seas
The dead will be many, they’ll lie in the mud
Young soldiers from both sides, together
The grief and the pain will be the same
In the broken hearts of all the mothers
War is Jang* is война* is Guerre*
There is no pretty word for it
That can honour or extol or purify
The endless sea of blood it lets
As cannons boom, bombs explode
And the world crashes and burns
The inflection point for humankind
Is now at the cusp of no return.
Jang/ война/ Guerre: The word “war” in Urdu, Russian and French respectively.
VERSE | A LOVE STORY
LISTEN TO THE POEM BEING READ AT: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSewAcj86/
When he smiles
His mouth curves up a little
Just a bit. The teeth don’t show
But sometimes a rare glimpse of ivory snow
Peeks through. Like weathered pages
From a book that has seen the ages
That has been loved, and also has
Been tossed around in the hands
Of those that loved it less
Now hiding its parchment yellowness
When she smiles
Her cheeks skip up, joining hands
With the crow’s feet at the corners
Of her eyes. Hands and feet
Join together in a wreathe
Its flowers have been abloom a while
Many now wear waning smiles
Just a few are waxing still
Of bountiful life taking their fill
When they look at each other
He and she
And they smile for all the world to see
The mouths, the noses and the cheeks
The enamel pearls, the crow’s feet
All fade away as eyes light up
Two sets of windows brighten up
Spangled pathways to twin souls
The radiant smiles reach deep inside
To gently touch two pages bright
Of a love story so new, yet old
Mahvash Mohtadullah 