gravitate

twenty five,
she is one quarter
of a century today.
even the word rigid
sounds rigid
what happened to adventure?
where is your joie de vivre?
you put it in a wooden box
and closed the drawer,
you willed the dust
to settle into
the recesses of your
being
orange light clickswitches on -
Welcome to the Land of Electrodynamics
the heater is warming up
the kettle is now boiling,
unpause to stream
ofpolished sepia/grayscale/nashville
lip stained laughter
filtered contagion envy.
my unread books remain
unread
five twenty,
even the word time
injects in me the sense of
I am losing
this war
so, I surrender
to the sunset prayer,
I catch it by its asphyxiated halo

avian woe

tawny pigeon
won't let you tie a message
around its foot

remember when you yelled at it?
go away go away go away
it's gone now.
the message is still in your hand
throw it away if you like
no one knew you had one anyway
underground in the dark
decades later
while you wait for eternity,
tawny pigeon returns
it finds a message
it doesn't make sense
coo coo coo
it sings and flies away

here, have a glass of water

jaw and teeth crooked but tamed
my tongue uncut
yet I taste blood in my water

iron in my mouth
I check the mirror
negligible signs of injury
yet the water tastes bloody

what does it matter?
my mouth is uncut
so I gulp down a well
of blood
stirred in with
a pinch of concern -
no more no less
a pinch is enough

Sanaa Hyder is an Indian expat that lives in the metropolitan deserts of Saudi Arabia. Academically, she graduated with a Masters in Health Psychology in 2013. She actively blogs flash fiction with an old friend at daydreamcatching.wordpress.com.