Sadness
the heart looks for a perfect word, even
a tongue made of flesh makes an effort
crusting language, we mount on a
mountain of expressions; a deep wound
exposes the logic of secrecy, a body of water
squeezed overnight, a plant smothered by
a casual hand, a silent sob by someone
staring at a pill in the palm, there are ways
of vague conclusions, whatever you choose.
Rizwan Akhtar is a writer from Lahore, Pakistan. His debut collection of poems Lahore, I Am Coming (2017) is published by Punjab University Press. He has published poems in well-established poetry magazines in the UK, the US, India, Canada, and New Zealand. He was a part of the workshop on poetry with Derek Walcott at the University of Essex in 2010.
The Marbled Sigh 