BOOK READING | RIOTOUS LOVE

On January 11, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In BookReading, Fiction, newbook, Shortstory, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

Reading from my book of short stories, “THE GIRL WITH THE PAISLEY DUPATTA”. The book is available at Sarasavi, Barefoot, Jam fruit Tree, Expographics and Pendi in Sri Lanka and at Readings, Liberty Books and Paramount Books in Pakistan.

Many of the stories in this book are from outside the bell curve of our lives, embracing sensitive social elements that are spoken of either in subdued whispers or not at all: from the brutal vigilante justice dispensed in the name of religion in “The Gods of Fury”; to the harrowing custom of honour revenge in the “Sins of our Fathers”; to the patriarchal ruthlessness that so many young women are subjected to in the title story “The Girl with the Paisley Dupatta”.

Some of the other stories are of women and men negotiating life, love, friendship, careers and tradition in the sometimes tumultuous and many times limiting folds of their families and their communities: from the enterprising love affair of 61 year old Nighat in “Love in Rawalpindi”; to the shenanigans of a dancing queen in “Riotous Love”; to the complicated friendship between two middle aged unmarried society girls in “Days of Purgatory”.

VERSE | HEAVEN CAN WAIT

On January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In Faith, poetry, serenity, verse, womenwriters, writing1 Comment

There’s someone you see who can use your help 
Above and beyond the 2.5 percent
That has been made obligatory on you 
By forces of faith, of habit now too 
Don’t think twice because you have done 
Your duty as prescribed by the One
Go ahead, give some extra, don’t hesitate 
Don’t hesitate. Heaven can wait 

You’re going on your blessed Hajj number two
You’ve been good, devout and true 
But the farmer working in your fields 
He needs a liver transplant critically
He looks to you for a helping hand 
Should you divert funds from your pilgrimage plans?
You’re caught up in a quandary of faith 
Don’t hesitate. Heaven can wait 

The colony that you pass everyday 
The one with the shanties, a riot of grey 
It’s residents are different, they don’t share your beliefs 
But you’ve spoken to some, you’re aware of their dreams 
Should you give of your blessed prestige  
To those who believe in a separate deity?
God’s benevolence does not discriminate 
Don’t hesitate. Heaven can wait 

When you feel pulled in directions unique
That speak to your heart abundantly 
But seem to lie in realms that are 
On the twilit edges of well trodden paths 
Still your cacophonous heart, and listen 
To the flow of lifeblood in your veins 
Let it take you up the streams it creates 
Don’t hesitate. That’s where heaven waits.

VERSE | THE AB-SIND CLUB

On January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In Foot in the Mouth, funny, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

This is a fond tribute to all the microscosms of colonial design and demeanour/ architecture and attitude that continue to faithfully roost in various cities across what was once the coveted Jewel in the Crown.

I’m having a day that’s making me feel 
More sterile than a beetle on its back 
I’m walking on the thin side 
Of breaking down, losing sight 
Of my psychedelic, privileged life 
I need some of the forgetting tonic 
That Pir Buksh so expertly whips up 
That makes me happy, schizophrenic 
With every sip and every glug 
I drink the potion, and I duly grow 
My Abs synth-esizing my lost bravado 

Suddenly they’re all like flies 
On the periphery of my eyes 
They cease to make me wince and curse
They cease to be a part of my universe 
I sit back, bark an order 
In Bloodhound, German shepherd tones 
Throw a carcass, throw some bones 
Throw a tantrum for good measure 
The club becomes a pyramid 
I’m at the top, the very apex 
Those hoisiting it upon their shoulders 
The club like a majestic boulder 
Matter not, they sit there 
Like a pile of boring underwear 
They’ve seen it all but you don’t care
They keep it all precisely together 
The erstwhile jewels in their imperial leather 

“One more!” I shout in thundering tones 
“Absinth me up quick bartender!”
Before I lose the precious threads
Of the delicate lace of elegance 
Pir Bukhsh gives me some more manna
From the counter in the shadows 
And I swallow and I glide
In the throes of happy amnesia 
The absinthe in the Ab-sind club 
Makes me feel so damn superi-a
Heavens be praised I’ve had a day
Like I’m lord of a castle in the UK
Indeed, the last few hours have made me feel
Like a hero in a Bollywood reel.

VERSE | GRACE

On December 30, 2022August 29, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, serenity, verse, womenwriters, writing5 Comments

Are you ready? said he softly 
I was sitting and watching tv
For what? I asked full well knowing
The implications of that simple question 

For your journey onwards from here 
He said quietly in my ear 
I stared ahead, I couldn’t look 
Into eyes that held the whole cosmos 

I still have things to do I said 
Even as my heart filled with dread 
I still have dreams and wishes said I 
Even as I felt my mouth go dry

He waited watching me silently 
His shadow was now a part of me 
I took a breath and looked at him 
His eyes looked back serene, glowing

I cried, I am afraid to leave 
Even if I have always believed 
That one day I must walk away 
Wrapped in death’s final embrace 

But that faith has always surrounded me 
On the outside, while inside of me 
Has grown a choking, gnawing terror 
Of the day that you would appear 

He took my hand and held it fast
My hand in his we touched my heart 
The blue-gray fear that sat in there 
Evaporated into the air 

I felt my soul for the first time 
Floating, thrumming, humming inside 
I smiled even as the tears flowed 
Silver, sparkling, love-hallowed 

I laughed, I cried, I laughed again 
Life was beautiful even at the end 
I loosened the strings bound to the past 
And closed my eyes as I breathed my last.

UPDATE- New Book Release | SHIMMERING SCRAPS OF POETRY AND MADNESS

On December 27, 2022August 29, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In newbook, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writing2 Comments

My book SHIMMERING SCRAPS OF POETRY AND MADNESS is now available at the following locations:

SRI LANKA:
- THE BAREFOOT BOOKSTORE
- THE JAM FRUIT TREE BOOKSTORE
- PENDI
- SARSASAVI BOOKSTORES
- EXPOGRAPHICS

PAKISTAN:
- LIBERTY BOOKS
- PARAMOUNT BOOKS
- READINGS

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The book is a collection of poems and essays, and as the name suggests, the contents of the 243 pages range from the sublime to the ridiculous; from soaring on the wings of ecstacy to struggling with overwhelming despair; from the capricious joys of matrimony to the dubious delights of singledom; from the profound ecstasy in a mug of steaming latte to the ardent disappointment in a less than perfectly brewed cup of tea; from the comedic to the somber and from the customary to the controversial, this collection of poems and features encompasses them all, and like a sore-throated bulbul (who also has some clear-voice days) I have sung them all for you.

VERSE| A SELFCARE NOTE

On December 26, 2022December 27, 2022 By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, serenity, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

You know that tiny little thought 
That forms inside your head
The one that nags and corners you 
When you least expect?

That atomic little notion which 
Makes you doubt yourself 
A hazy inkling barely there 
Now sits big upon the shelf 

You try to look the other way
From that space inside your mind 
But your racing, tearing brain has left
Your willpower behind 

And so you stare at the thought
Treacherous, stinging and sly 
Of how you could have done better 
Of how lacking was your try 

The tiny speck of self doubt
Grows gargantuan in size 
As it festers in your head
The truth hidden behind the lies 

Put up your guard, don’t be afraid 
To not see it at all
Know its savage purpose 
Don’t let it spread its pall 

So when that nagging little thought 
Creeps in out of the blue 
Face it only when you can 
With kindness, grace and truth.

VERSE | PAIN

On December 22, 2022February 3, 2025 By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, truth, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

My temples throb 
Like the devil has set up shop 
In their wefts of flesh and bone 
There he threshes 
His wheat and corn
Brimstoned and fire shorn 
Screaming out his brutal song 
I’m enmeshed 
Tied inside my throbbing head 
Forced to see, ingest and feel 
The devilry 
Making me curse 
Making me keen 
In time to the pounding drum
And the terrifying never-ending hum
Of the devil’s threshing machine 

I try to think 
Break out of the infernal links
That tie me down inside my head
My raging, aching, splitting head 
But the devil sings
His strangely hypnotizing song
And I stop
Trying to slip 
Into my veins 
Away, away from the devil’s shop 
From that wretched, that exhausting pain 
And I stay
The convulsions hold me in their sway 
Aaaa-gonizing me 
Beating, pulverizing me 
Crescendoing with my memories 
And I sit with my pounding head 
As the throb in my temples counts the dead.

VERSE | LONGING

On December 16, 2022September 7, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

I found an eyelash on your cheek 
It perched there like a dream 
I couldn’t take my eyes away 
From that hypnotising scene

The beautiful imperfection of
That eyelash out of place 
Was also the exquisiteness 
Of nature’s untamed grace 

You looked at me as I looked at
The fallen angel on your cheek 
It fluttered on broken wings like 
Back into heaven it would leap 

And then you smiled that special smile 
Where your eyes light up with mirth
The eyelash took a leap of faith 
Becoming one with the pulsing earth 

I found an eyelash, it had strayed 
Onto your sun warmed skin 
It filled my heart with wistfulness 
With love and with longing.

POETRY READING | JUST ANOTHER FAIRYTALE

On December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, truth, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment

My book SHIMMERING SCRAPS OF POETRY AND MADNESS is a collection of poems and essays, rumblings of the heart about the joys, the truths, the pain, the controversies, the funniness and the wonder that criss cross all our lives in one way or another.

The book is divided into five sections: Joy, Foot-in-the-mouth, Truth, Hope and Serenity. The Truth and Foot-in-the-Mouth categories are especially brazen and raw. As with most such uninhibited writing, the objective is to assail the sensibilities and even if just for a while, to look the truth right in its jaundiced eye. The other three sections are largely whimsical and uplifting very much like walking through a zen corridor, which I’m hoping, will also soften the sensory assault of the former two segments.

POETRY READING | BEAUTIFUL STRANGER

On December 11, 2022December 11, 2022 By Mahvash K. M.In BookReading, Fiction, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writing1 Comment

My book of poetry and essays SHIMMERING SCRAPS OF POETRY AND MADNESS will be available in bookstores across Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the end of December 2022.

FRIENDS IN SL can get their copies TODAY from the Jam Fruit Tree bookstore on Galle road in Colombo via call/ WhatsApp to 072-7268078.

Shimmering Scraps is a collection of poems and essays, rumblings of the heart about the joys, the truths, the pain, the controversies, the funniness and the wonder that criss cross all our lives in one way or another.

VERSE | RED ROSES

On December 9, 2022September 8, 2023 By Mahvash K. M.In poetry, serenity, verse, womenwriters, writing2 Comments

The red roses were out
In full bloom
Riotous, cheerful, swaying in their beds
Wearing their full petalled crowns on their heads
I looked from afar 
Day after day 
As the roses danced and played
In the not so far off distance
Something was stopping me
Something in my heart
Was whispering, telling me that these flowers
Were best adored from afar 
I listened and stayed away
From that little paradise
As it burgeoned with beauty
Day after day 
But one morning when I came out to the garden
I felt a lightness of being
And so I strayed further afield 
To that joyful bed of red roses at play

There I looked at the perfect blooms
Each one’s heart lay glistening in the sun
The petals dancing in unison
Around their pulsing cores
And then I saw 
The soil below
There strewn in little pools
Of red, unravelled - unspooled  
Lay the fallen petals 
Fallen … resting … resting … fallen petals 
Some bruised, some new
Some already a part of the earth
As she hugged them close, each delicate edge 
Soaking back into her infinite depths 
The scene took my breath away
Whisking me back to another day 
Full of bittersweet memories 
When I’d seen the same petals 
Strewn where you rested 
In earth’s boundless embrace.