The Shrines We Build in Bondage

~ an invocation, a shikwa ~

acrylic on canvas ‘Through Inflamed Eyelids’ 36x48 by author

Shikwa—

from Arabic “Shaykwa” — a complaint, a lamentation.

The concept of SHIKWA has been used in Urdu Poetry in which a complaint is addressed to a Beloved ( God ) or a lamentation in despair of the human condition, invoking intervention.

We

stood by

we

saw your walls fall

laughed

as we saw

afflictions

run rivulets

down iniquitied faces

thoroughfares

of our minds

splintered

we watched

our walls crash

we laughed

at the promise

of stainless windows

we laughed.

You

watch as corpses

run jagged

through

decanted sound

through

grotesque opulences

through

our filthied bodies