Growing Old: Online Event
Reply
Author Archives: Novid Shaid
MAHDI 2200
PARENTAL ADVISORY: ADULT THEMES
Mahdi sighed at the text on the holovid before him, which was floating like a disembodied mirror in the air:
Read through the following historical summaries and then answer the multiple-choice questions below:
In 2022, the third world war began, after US strikes on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, initiating the five decade long, second dark ages.
In 2072, the second dark ages ended with a depleted world population, and African, US/European, and Asiatic nations unified under one ruling body: The United Citizenry of the World.
Continue readingOnline Event
Poetry on Childhood Event
Poetry Event
I’m Better Than Him
I’m better than him
It’s in the genes
Khalaqtanee min naarin
Wa khalaqtahu min teen
I’m better than him
It’s in the genes
He drives a bus
I got a PHD.
I’m better than him
It’s in the genes
He hails from the third world
I’m related to the Queen.
I’m better than her
It’s in the genes
She grew up in a flat
I was raised with prestige.
I’m better than her
It’s in the genes
Her father is a guard
My father’s a marine.
We’re better than them
It’s in the genes
We’re a civilised folk
Their culture’s obscene.
We’re better than them
It’s in the genes
Our race has evolved
Their race is naive.
I’m better than him
It’s in the genes
Khalaqtanee min naarin
Wa khalaqtahu min teen
(Chorus based on Quranic verses: Suratul A’raf/Chapter of The Heights- 7:12: The devil’s explanation to Allah about not bowing to Adam (as): “I am better than him; You created me from fire, while You created him from clay.”)
Morning Full Moon
Morning full moon, today
Over the ruins and roads
Morning full moon, this hour
Over the cordoned land
Morning full moon, my love
Can’t take my eyes off you
What do you so magnetize?
In the dawning blue?
Over the steel cumbersome bird
Moving in straight lines
Over the restless, swerving larks
In your gaze, benign
Crossing the road I miss you
Then in between the homes
Morning full moon, you shine
You radiate alone
Can’t take my heart from you
Don’t want to go inside
Morning full moon your soul
A perfect one sublime
In the shores of the ebbing night
Your face a haunting show
But in the red rising vista
I’m taken by your glow
Morning full moon find me
When I’m lost in my nights
Morning full moon guide me
When hatred clouds my sight
Morning full moon stir me
When I’m engrossed in fear
Morning full moon touch me
So I can feel you near…
Garam and Cuka: Susu and Madu
The Day The Poles Met
By Novid Shaid, January, 2009
One day the four poles met: the north, the south, the east and the west. They gathered and communed, in the sanctified city of Jerusalem, amazingly calm and dynamic; elusive but intimate; separate but conjoined; utterly silent while resonating; invisible to many, while manifest to the few.
The Washing
March, 2011
“Oh Lord, we have wronged our selves…” The Holy Quran
Foad Amson was in some serious trouble. For a start, his wife, Eve, was on to him and her suspicions were slowly leading her to the truth. Foad had been cheating on her. It was a woman from work who was strangely alluring and remarkably easy to seduce. After one thing led to another, Foad found himself booking a hotel room and engaging in an illicit rendezvous after work. When he returned home that evening, he made some excuse about his colleagues going out to a restaurant, and in the following days, he worked hard to cover his tracks and to convince Danya, the office temp, not to reveal their secret. She obeyed, and his persuasive powers seemed to be working, so he planned to meet her again, at intervals, over the next few months. Danya never invited Foad back to her place, which he respected, particularly as Danya was so gracious as to contribute to the cost of their hotel rooms and food.