health

poetry by SamiraJanuary 29, 2022

Tired

Tired To my bones My pace Relentless My body Fatigued It is invisible So am I And that makes me all the more Tired.

poetry by SamiraJanuary 9, 2019January 9, 2019

My mom mixed me this fancy lotion She took all her face creams Her favorite ones Mixed them all up In a fancy jar And gave them to me That was two years ago I use it sparingly So it lasts forever Like I hope she lasts forever Because I cannot bear to think of […]

poetry by SamiraSeptember 26, 2018September 26, 2018

Ring the Alarm

You are an alarmist You always have been You react Before you should You think before you reason Hopping quickly at each bite of news Your anecdotes make your data Your hyperbole eclipse your logic You are unmeticulous And haphazard And you will not be my undoing There are theories and there is practice Life […]

Uncategorized by SamiraSeptember 8, 2018June 16, 2020

Disease

Author’s note: this was written while my beloved mother was in the depths of chemotherapy, a punishing treatment for a punishing disease. Her outlook, progress, and my own have come a long way since then, and we find ourselves in better spirits. Hope abounds as the journey continues, but any light, love, and healing energy […]

poetry by SamiraSeptember 2, 2018

Ride

I cried at the end of the bike ride As the virtual instructor yelled at me to push “Rise up!” He said “Let your heart lift out of your chest! And rise up, let your heart carry you!” I pushed Pedaling hard All of the months and years Rattling in my head As it battled […]

poetry by SamiraAugust 27, 2018August 27, 2018

Break

We think we are so strong But humans We are crazy fragile Stupid, silly fragile So there’s no shame In showing our cracks We break Our bodies Our hearts Our spirits And each other But we rise Phoenix From the ashes Fused from breaks Forever just as fragile But repaired At our cracks That we […]

poetry by SamiraAugust 25, 2018

Headache

I can hear myself swallow Each movement Jerks Against the corners of the inside of my mind Irregular movements Make uneven beats They pound inside me Building heat Filling my eyes Tears hot Covering my cheeks The scars Where they cut me open Skin, flesh, skull They throb As though alive for themselves I ache […]

poetry by SamiraAugust 21, 2018August 22, 2018

Walk

Walk closer to me So I can see your face Speak closer to me So I can hear your voice Be honest with me So I can feel your spirit Where did you go On the night all was lost Where did you hide When we all held vigil and cried Where have you gone […]

poetry by SamiraAugust 18, 2018August 22, 2018

Untouchable

We think we are untouchable It’s the way that we survive The things that ail our counterparts Will never cease the way we thrive We think we are entitled To laugh and joke all day Our belief we are untouchable Keeps all our fears at bay No one is untouchable Pain is always steps away Your guard falls […]

poetry by SamiraAugust 17, 2018

Ancestral Voices

I don’t pay enough attention when she speaks Her voice so sweet Like a song Washes over me Like in a trance I fade away But what if her voice is gone What will wash my soul