Shout out from Miombo
– Munia Khan is a versatile voice on the international literary arts scene. Her work has graced several platforms through anthologies, magazines,journals and other projects.She is a well and internationally published poet and she founded useful poetry initiatives in her country.Miombo seeks to inspire other poets in the world to follow on her footsteps. Remember also we are in this sacred month ,when we feature female voices in promoting 16days of gender of activism.
Have a feel her poetry. Send through your comments, follow our blogjornal. Send suggestions to miombopublishing@gmail.com, follow miombopublishing group on Facebook.Cheers have a good read!
Never an Unborn
Here I am, after the conception process,
savouring my embryonic self,
constantly growing-
the size of a kidney bean.
I have become host
to a quickly beating heart and now,
learning to love the way how
my intestines are forming these days.
Sensing how my eyelids, mouth, nose, earlobes,
are taking shape gradually; I am alive!
Perhaps this is the life-miracle,
of which I am still not aware.
I don’t know what to do with this newly formed
skin, hair, lenses of eyes,
tooth enamel and the nervous system.
Not sure what life really is,
but I can imagine,
since my tiny, unique finger prints
are in place already: quite evidently
Yes, life is here while I’m still a fetus
Yet, I hate this growth spurt,
where I am about the size of a tasteless avocado;
Nevertheless, I’m delighted,
for my heart is now pumping more blood each day.
As the weeks go by,
I wonder at my skeleton hardening
from rubbery cartilage to bone.
(Maybe it’s for the best of my staying alive strongly)
I love to share the joy
of developing: my ability to hear,
so I let my mother feel those little flutters and kicks!
I’m really overwhelmed with my brain impulses;
I feel totally blessed by this prenatal development
My arms, hands, legs, feet- progressing faster.
Fully formed brain, newly formed nails,
my developed face, nerve cells connection to the brain
everything secures my entity
I am growing
Yes, I am growing!
I’m stretching out
from head to bottom.
I can squint and frown
with more powerful kicks and prods;
am not going to drown
into the pool of joy;
am whirling like a toy
from north to south;
Wow! Now I can open my mouth
Am saving my weight and length
Stronger I feel with all my strength!
Every part of me becomes more distinct
Am looking more like a human
I can grasp tight now, you know.
I feel I’m going to clutch the entire world,
because now I know I’m a girl
My lungs love to breathe through another existence.
My wrinkled skin begins to smooth out
I feel light filters in through the womb
I just can’t wait to see the light of another world
Not sure how it will be
Will it be a world full of peaceful fluids,
where I can float and swim?
Or it will be a damp place,
just to grow up and survive?
…I wonder
I really wonder…
People call me the ‘unborn’,
but I am not;
as I call myself a ‘child’
born months ago
in the safest place on earth:
my mother’s womb!
‘Draught’
I forgot to sup
annoyance
from his glass full of
mingled dread and rage
Now let me take
a small draught of solace
from my own little cup
full of predicaments!
‘Animals We Are’
I wish I had a thousand lives
Carrying my faithful veins
I could lead those one after another
Even a life of an owl I’d prefer rather
I wish I were not of man-kind
And with my animal instinct
The roots of morality could stay unshaken
Even a life of an insect wouldn’t have forsaken
I wish I were anything having a life on earth
With a better proof of my existence
Outliving like an earthworm, a fish or a dog
A reptile or avian even a dolphin or a frog
A single-celled Protozoa
A big tree or a plant
Even a snail, snake or a wolf’s life
I wish I could grant.
We can always be human
Meeting each day a wise new man
But the Animal Kingdom to which we belong
Animals we are; this truth can’t be wrong.
‘Microbial’
In our hunger we need
no more test tubes; we feed
by being a rare hybrid
of gluttony and greed.
We’re fine on this planet
eating pomegranate
to remain ever green;
as wise owl scientists preen
to clean their inventions—
bacterial tensions.
As if ‘earth’ is ‘heaven’
Species are sins seven
needs are in need of help
lost population’s yelp
no longer a thriller
Pollution : our killer!
Microbial flora
as human aurora
Same world we gulp to throw
We thrive, we live, we grow.
‘Her Dream-telescope’
A weapon-like wonderment
skirmishes inside the little girl’s mind
while she is playing unpredictably
with her curiosity’s congestion
She is unwilling
to leave her musical thoughts alone
merely to dance her childhood away
with this unknown world’s bewilderment
She is unaware
of her innocence which seems to simulate
a fantasy alien from planet Pluto.
They let her keep on searching a dim speck of light
when her wishes turn into a dream-telescope
that can never be used for sighting a peaceful earth..
Munia Khan was born on a spring night of 15th March in the year 1981. Her poetry is the reflection of her own life experience. She is the author of three poetry collections — Beyond the Vernal Mind, published in 2012, To Evince the Blue, published in 2014 by Xlibris Corporation, USA and Versified, published in 2016 by Tiktakti Publishing Company, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her poems have appeared in several anthologies. Her works have been translated into various languages: Japanese, Romanian, Urdu, Spanish, Bengali, Irish, and so on. She is a member in The Poetry Society, UK and also a founding member of Poets & Artists For A Different World Movement.
