• The Defiant Poets Society

    Pluck the prettiest rose from the Garden of Eden
    Twist the stem; the silent screams go unheard
    Pure petals roughly fingered by undeserving hands
    The bruises well obscured by the veil

    ‘Today, women are free’, the screen shouts through the bars
    She doesn’t even own her own body anymore
    What is freedom behind the stifling palm of man?
    Censoring the poems in which she bares her soul

    Once upon a time was much too long ago
    Running through poppy fields with a smile
    Smile, you’re beautiful; smile, I love you
    Smile, and show me your broken teeth and dreams

    Standing before the mirror in her wedding dress
    Hair dripping; skin coated with gasoline
    Tossing the lit match into the hands of fate
    A front row seat to her funeral

    The gravestone lies about her tragic demise
    And cleared her ‘loving husband’ of any wrong
    She looks down at him, not in anger, but pity
    Reciting the verse of her past life like a song:

    "I am caged in this corner / full of melancholy and sorrow...
    My wings are closed and I cannot fly...
    "
    (- Nadia Anjuman 1980-2005)