What Not To Do
lehja لہجہ
if a bride laughs at her wedding, she is a whore
tareeqa طریقہ
if a bride eats too much at the ceremony, she is a whore
tarbiat تربیت
if a bride does not cry after the ceremony, she is a whore
husnحسن
if a bride wears lipstick before the ceremony, she is a whore
andaz انداز
if a bride dances too much at her wedding, she is a whore
takalluf تکلف
if a bride’s dowry does not contain silverware, her mother is a whore
An Education on Losing
I don't know what her body was thinking
when it recoiled feline, back to a choke
I wore gloves and a face mask
rolled her socks up to the ankles
the closest I had been to musk
her bones clicking in my hands
clinical woman
the most naked she had ever been
was when she was dying
the doctor is here cover my hair
it doesn’t matter
we were both terrified of God
for different reasons
•
the sky occurred twice
first in blue, then in the pit of my stomach
puncturing through my good bacteria
it’s not time to wear black yet my mother insists
she wears orange and yellow instead
everyone thinks its inappropriate
cover your chest, this is a hospital
its inappropriate
but she’s dying in there
•
the most alive we had ever been was
when we bent to kiss her forehead in the rain
monsoon, seeing this beckoned another monsoon
to witness the happening
•
later that night
everything we had learnt thus far spirals
away from us: photosynthesis, carnivores, species
worlds and worlds of science prick at our
dysfunctional bodies
we fight a little and hold hands
we pump God into each other’s veins
and fatten ourselves up with His names
Al-Rahman
Al-Rahim
tonight we are all fanatics
Momina Mela is a Pakistani poet from Lahore. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Yorker, POETRY, Waxwing, and Drunken Boat, amongst others. She is an MFA candidate at NYU and currently lives in Brooklyn.