ROKIAH HASHIM spews hard to swallow truth to power, to unrepentant warlords , architects of decadence and to demagogues of violence. Her rib- pricking verses are scythe spikes rattling consciences of supremacists wielding iron muscle to humanity. Her satiric hymns jabs into the pseudo-revolutionary evil-hardened flesh of war bandits butchering the earth day and night. HASHIMs defiant pen the spit of promise and that raw verve of boldness. Her poetry is revolutionary, it is blessed with simplicity, verbal dexterity and lyrical prowess. ROKIAH HASHIM enjoys a long-lasting writing activism career, A Malaysian Poet Writer and Human Rights living in exile and always in search of human purity, justice and peace. TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC is proud to feature on its digital mats the Iconic Poet, Prolific Writer and Distinguished Human Rights Defender ROKIAH HASHIM – (Blurb by Mbizo CHIRASHA)
I AM SORRY, MIR RAHMAN
That day
I had misunderstanding
With Mir Rahman from Srinagar
Because he refused
To give his real identity
And I was scared
To publish interview with him
In case I will be accused
aving links with Kashmiri militant Though many times
was duped
Because militant on one side
Are also freedom fighters on the other
Ah! Kashmir was once Paradise on earth But Mir Rahman said
Kashmir is now like paradise
During winter
With its frozen lake
And syikara* that couldn’t be rowed
To ferry tourists
Like postcard photos of 70s
Not only that
Said Mir Rahman
His Fb accounts was ordered to be closed Every other month
Opened then closed
Opened again then closed again Opened and closed again
Closed and closed for good at last
Mir Rahman
Mounted on his postings
Photos of youngsters on street protests Or armies shooting at point blank
At the eyes of the young protesters
Or horrifying stories
Children and Muslim women
Raped by soldiers
Or stories of prominent University scholar Died of torture in prisons
Etc…etc….etc…..
Kashmir was a paradise
In 70s postcards
And now remained
Are painful stories
And miseries
And pain
And miseries
Said Mir Rahman
Mir, I am sorry
I didn’t really understand
About your paradise
Which lost its beautiful glory
Long ago
And your miserable stories
Was buried for so long
By the bleeding of Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovinia, Kosovo. Etc….etc …etc….
*syikara are boats used to carry tourists in the lakes in Kashmir.
Zagreb
Spring 2019
PEACE BE UPON YOU DAVOS
Peace be upon you Davos
Thank you
For wanting to make
This world
A better place
happier place
ut for whom?
Peace Be Upon You Davos
What about my friends
Osama from Baghdad
Mohamed from Jericho
Dunya from Syria
Shaif from Iraq
Ibrahim from Kosovo
Also Rahman from Rakhine
Peace be upon you Davos
Yes! I know
American fighter jets need to be sold
Sophisticated Israeli drones
Need to be researched and produced
So that more could be killed
By pushing buttons
Arms factories in England have to operate
So that her people have jobs
And they could go for holidays
To Third World countries
Etc …..
Etc ……….
Etc ……..
Peace be upon you Davos
Don’t forget
Osama from Baghdad did not choose to be refugee forever
Mohamed from Hebron didn’t want to lose his identity
Dunya from Aleppo didn’t want to live uncomfortably
Shaif wants to go back to his beloved Sanaa
Wounds on Ibrahim’s soul are still there
Traumatised by NATO bombs in Kosovo
Rahman doesn’t want to have children and grandchildren in Cox’s Bazaar Peace be upon you Davos
All my friends
Also want this planet to be better
To be happier
To be peaceful
Forever
LOVE IN THE TIMES OF Al NAKBA*.
My man
thank you
for trying to fathom
between the battles of the soul
and the waves of my love to you
and seeing every grain
more than
the dances of a gypsy woman
And you are getting closer
recognizing the rhytms of my footsteps
between the foggy dictions whispered
during our love dialogue
of yester year
while you were still dazed
guessing and testing
the enigmatic lake of my heart
and the depth of my soul trench
at breakfast table
during lunch
while having dinner
during journey
when holding me tight
as if not letting me go
when we were parting
while in shyness of being watched
I buried my face of love on your chest
My man
thank you
for still trying
to build bridges of understanding
until this moment
and not giving up easily
though engulfed by darkness
without even a spark of light.
My man
thank you
in waves of thorny obstacles
ocean of fire and non-stop missiles
we are still there
as how you want it
as how I want it
as what we promised
during the most beautiful fall of yesteryear
Thank you God.
*Al Nakba means catastrophe, referring to the 1948 incident of expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when the state of Israel was created. Until now, the Palestinians who left their homeland were not allowed to return and the Al Nakba continued.
POEMS WRITTEN BY SITI RUQAIYAH HASHIM
ROKIAH HASHIM from Malaysia writes using the name of Siti Ruqaiyah Hashim. She graduated from University of Science in Malaysia in Theatre and Drama, then continued her studies in University of Sydney and obtained Post Graduate Diploma in Translation from Institute of Translations and Books in Malaysia. Starting from 1987 her poems and short stories were published by mainstream literature magazines and newspapers. She is also prolific in film and theatre critics and wrote since 2007 in her column in a major national daily in Malaysia and published a film critic book in 2015 and some 250 articles. A bi-lingual anthology of her poems titled Catharsis/Katarsis in English and Bahasa Melayu (2015) and Spanish (2016). Her bi-lingual anthology together with 12 other world peace poets titled News From Strasbourg was published in 2017. Her second bi-lingual World Peace Poem anthology titled Peace Be Upon You Davos was published in 2019 in Zagreb. Her collection of poems were translated and published in Albanian by Ditet E Naimit 2019 titled Rerat E Sri Lavender. She translated poems of Shaip Emerllahu Into Bahasa Melayu and published the bi-lingual titled Epal Tetovo/Apples (2019) . Her works also appeared in numerous other anthologies together with other world poets and in foreign magazines and newspaper. Her poems were translated into 16 languages including English,Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish , Turkish, Russian, French,Japanese etc. She attended numerous poem festivals all over the world. She lives in Europe and Malaysia and an associate author with International magazine Diogen Pro Culture for World Peace (USA), Poetrybay (USA),Greenwatch Bangladesh, Campus 247.Wordpress (Ghana), Atunis Galaktike Poetry (Brussels) IWABOGDANI (Brussels) and many others. Her poem won Best Poem in Croatia (2019).She was awarded by IWABOGDANI Brussels and Yalta 10th Chekov Festival in 2019. International Forum of Creativity and Humanity (IFCH) based in Morocco recently awarded her Excellence in Recognition of Humanitarian and Cultural Fields and on International Women’s Day 2020 she was awarded Ideal Arab Leadership Woman. She was also appointed Ambassador of Humanity from Malaysia by IFCH.
MEET TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC PROJECTS CURATOR
Mbizo CHIRASHA, Contributing Editor to the Diasporian Online. Chronicler and Publisher , AFRICA WRITERS CARAVAN. Chief Editor at TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC. Projects Curator at WOMAWORDS LITERARY PRESS. Chief Influencer at Brave Voices Poetry Journal. Author and Editor at Porcupine Quill. UNESCO-RILA Affiliate Artist. 2020 Free Speech Fellow at PEN Deutschland.2020 Poet in Residence of the Fictional Café . 2019 African Fellow of the Ihraf.org. Contributing Writer at Monk Arts and Soul Magazine . Literary Arts Activism Diplomatie at Bezine Arts and Humanities Magazine and The Poet A Day. Featured Poetry Artist at World BeyondWar.Org. Arts Features and Political commentary Writer at Cultural Weekly. Featured African Writer at Demer Press International Poetry Series . Featured African Performance Poet at 2020 Medellin International Poetry Festival. Featured Poet/Writer at INKSWEATAND TEARS Journal.2019 Live Literature Hub Curator/Producer at Sotambe International Film Arts FESTIVAL. 2009 Poet in Residence at International Africa Culture and Development, ICACD). 2003 Young Literary Arts Delegate of ZimBookFair to Goteborg International Book Fair, SIDA African Pavilion . Co-Editor of a three Languages International collection STREET VOICES with prominent Germany Author Andreas Weiland . Featured Poet at Cervena Barva Press Newsletter. Literary Arts and Poetry Contributor to the Zimbabwean Voice of the Voiceless Newspaper. African Participant to the World Poetry Almanac Book Series in Mongolia. Resident Coordinator for 100 Thousand POETS for Peace- Zimbabwe. Founder and Creative Director at GirlChildcreativity Project . Writer in Residence. Global LITERARY Arts Projects Influencer. Published Author and International Acclaimed Poet.
TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC -An Internet based Poetry Center, Archiving Theme based Digital Poetry Anthologies and Profiling Iconic Poets and Writers The Journal – This journal is published four times a year and Its selection of ten best poems from well established poets . The Journal will also feature prolific poetry book reviews by world class poetry reviews. Time of the Poet Anthology Series– a global poetry call platform that have matured from being a single profile blog article into a globally acclaimed theme based anthology series with the latest SECOND NAME OF EARTH IS PEACE – a multi-genre collection of short stories ,hybrid essays,flash fiction and poetry for peace and freedom of expression reflections. INSIDE the Poetry Cafe– This section features Profiles of established Poets , Writers and Artists from around the globe and Submissions are by invitation. Drum Beat Vibe- News on Fellowships ,publications , poetry stories and hot news.
