Laala Kashef Alghata

Poetry and writing by the author of Cupid's Rage (2015), Behind The Mask: A Folded Heart (2006) and Friendship in Knots (2003)

[laala]

April Rain

The sky sheds its weight falling

heavy hearts hiding from the sun

that will follow

blistering everything.

// Laala Kashef Alghata 12.04.18, Draft

[laala]

excerpt from poem Glaswegian Nights, in Cupid’s Rage

[laala]

excerpt from poem Birth of Days, in Cupid’s Rage

[laala]

Shhh... something new is coming.

[laala]

[laala]

[laala]

Dali’s Rose

Inspired by Dali’s Rose Meditative

The rose hangs in the air, in the balance of probability, bleeding beauty gently into its surroundings. Whomever loved that loved not at first sight?

Stemless, its petals fold back. I want to climb into its womb and dissolve in its softness, forget the world, hovering in the sky with no visible means of support.

There is a drop on the petal’s lip and my cheeks are wet.

// Laala Kashef Alghata, from Cupid's Rage

[distantheartbeats]

I see my laugh erupt on your face and I wonder how many other things we stole from each other as we grew up, spin-kicking our way through.

Laala Kashef Alghata, I Can Still Kick Your Ass

[laala]

[laala]

I am tired and I am Done.

I have not collapsed so much as stopped quietly, maybe suddenly, but (not to me, not to any woman I know) stopped, sat down on the pavement

and willed the world to forget me

willed myself to forget. To dissolve.

I have no strength left.

— ‘Sometimes, I cannot make peace with the woman I am and the world I live in’

// Laala Kashef Alghata Draft poem July 20, 2016

[laala]

There is nothing I could have done to be ready for you.

// Excerpt from a poem in progress

Laala Kashef Alghata July 20, 2016

[laala]

Glaswegian Night

Your memory hangs about my silhouette, like laughter. Your eyes, darker than a Glaswegian night, shone brightly. I saw the tears, reflected them in my own and said nothing.

Our fingers intertwined across the miles. Your breath hot against my cheek, your smile waning. You ate apples and let the cores fall at your feet.

// Laala Kashef Alghata, from Cupid's Rage

[laala]

I'm having a book signing tomorrow! I know it's short notice, but I've just been told that I'll have a time slot at the Bahrain International Book Fair tomorrow (March 30) at 8.30pm. It's being held at the Bahrain National Museum. Please come along for support, to buy a book, or to have a chat! Spread the word to anyone you think would be interested.

[laala]

[laala]

Sweetheart,

tell me your fantasies and exactly how many I’m in.

Sweetheart, grab me and do what you wish. I know how to stop you and when.

Sweetheart, lean past your fucking defences. Tell them how you lied, how you love me.

Sweetheart, some more of me is waiting when you turn the page—

//

Laala Kashef Alghata, from Cupid’s Rage

[distantheartbeats]

[laala]

Cupid’s Rage

Wrap your arms around me, make me feel your forgotten love. Kiss me slowly, tenderly; let me know how to sense that vibrant, fading rainbow.

Let me rest in my clichés and recall every single night with all of Cupid’s rage, when we fell for the wrong one.

Let us fall: broken, entwined, a modern pair of star-fucked lovers.

Press this thorn into my iris if you remember a time when I once called you the apple of my eye.

//

Laala Kashef Alghata, from Cupid’s Rage