Black Flowers Arts Journal #Publication

I’m not sure what’s happening at the moment but I received news of another publication this week! This one’s for Black Flowers Arts Journal, Volume Twelve, the Dreams issue. It includes three of my pieces, one collage poem, one painting and one erasure poem. I guess I should submit more visual poems! They seem to fill a niche. They used the painting (Perspective) as the front cover on Instagram, so I’m really pleased about that. You can view all my pieces by clicking here.

I’m happy with how it looks, it’s wonderful to see my work curated like that. I rushed to get the erasure poem done for the deadline so I was a bit concerned it would look rough around the edges but it seems to hold up well. And I’m thinking of doing more collage poems in future. Kind of isolated phrases against a starkly drawn background. What do you think?

I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed doing them! 🙂

Thank you, as ever, for dropping by ❤

_{^{© N Nazir 2022}}

Star Walks

_{^{Star Walks, Erasure Poem #75, gel pen and biro on paper, (Sketchbooks 2022), © N Nazir 2022
Text source: Sum: Tales from the Afterlives, David Eagleman, p.21}}

Our lucky nights

are spent taking

star walks.


In our dream dialogue

we interpret death

as a brave afterlife.

*published over at Ink Sweat and Tears on 07.11.22

*shared for dVerse Open Link Night, hosted by Sanaa.

I’ve become very cavalier with my attitude towards Throwback Thursday having missed the odd one here and there. But I reserve the right to continue the tradition when I’m in the mood. So here’s mine for today. Okay, I know Starman would have been the most obvious choice to complement the poem but it’s not my fave Bowie song (shock, gasp). Heroes is, along with Wild is the Wind and The Man Who Sold the World. And let’s not forget the soundtrack to Labyrinth, oh no. That’s in a league of its own.

What’s your favourite Bowie song? Will you join me by sharing it in the comments? Or feel free to share your latest ear worm, whatever that may be 🙂

Ink Sweat and Tears #Publication!

_{^{Consistency, Erasure Poem #30, gel pen & acrylic on paper, (Sketchbooks 2022), © N Nazir 2022
Text source: The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg, p.111}}

An obssessive habit

brings calm victory.

Imagine a slow flawless finish.

Imagine the end

in dripping detail

heartfelt and climactic.

***

I’m so pleased to have two erasure poems published with Ink Sweat and Tears! I submitted them thinking they might get rejected as I’ve had a few of those this year. Erasure poems particularly are very hit and miss so I usually don’t bother sending those anywhere. But then I figured there was no harm in testing the water. And they were accepted straight away! Which absolutely made my day 🙂 Conclusion: it’s always worth submitting even if you’re unsure.

Also, I love that they described them as cosmic (above – you might have to click on the image). I hope you enjoy them, and as ever, thank you for dropping by ❤

Triptych

The thing about happy baby pose is
it can be a little too relaxing.
So when you’re in a room
full of strangers
relaxing this way
and it’s too cold 
to open the windows
pretty soon
you’re not relaxed at all
but in desperate need
of fresh air.


*

I dreamt of city lions
on the crumbling rooftops
of derelict housing in the inner city.
Silent and prowling and beautiful they were
the vocabulary of their manes
a perfectly silvery grey.
How could they be phantoms
when they had shadows?
Shining in the sun,
the shadow-casting sun.
One of them locked eyes with me
as I cruised past
on the bus.


*


Eggshells tinkling
as I punch out 
into the new world.  
I outgrew this one,
became other.  
I heard the hiss of life’s parade
all around me
and knew it was time.
Hey, World!  
How come you’re hibernating
when I’m ready to intrude
on your soul?
We can shindig gently
indoors
and it needn’t be loud
nor too wild.

^{_{© N Nazir 2022}}

Written for Shay’s Word Garden where we are given inspiration with Jim Morrison (words used: strangers, windows, lions, vocabulary, phantoms, eggshell, hiss, parade, soul) and Poets and Storytellers United where the theme is the power of 3.

Bear With Me #Wordless Wednesday

^{_{abandoned bear on someone’s wall, © N Nazir 2022}}