Sunday, March 30, 2014

Khaloud Al-Muttalibi- Two Poems

Snakes and Ladders

I breathed him in and there was no way out
The gust of longing from the east fills my lungs
It sends me rolling down the mountain of nostalgia
A few seconds it took
There I was squatting upon the ground
playing Snakes and Ladders
My stiff hands
Searching for a fresh start
Yet on the tattered board
The slithering worm erases my steps
My feet slip on the rungs
I cannot free my poems, trapped beneath the rocks
Or reassemble my dismantled thoughts 
Wet mouths drizzle
A crowd of fangs unfurl
Turning on the button of death
The mother snake takes over my body
The victor of the hour distributes her lavish gifts
Of pain and sorrow
From within her body
I stare
Despair


Drowned

Gagged and shackled
To the wall of the world
The remains of her thoughts
Lie frozen on the desolate sea
Their wreckage bore the scars
Of intrepid battles,
She had once fought
Before her shadow fell
In the ghastly ditch of sorrow
Pallid words left
  The last gasp
Of a battered soul



A brief biography of the poet
Khaloud Al-Muttalibi is a poet and translator. She resides in the United Kingdom.
Much of her work has been translated into various languages. Her poetry has been published in a vast array of worldwide literary magazines and journals, both in print and online. She has appeared in several books and anthologies. Her published works include Psalms under a London Sky, Under an Icy Sky, A Portrait of Uruk, and The Contemporary Iraqi Poetry Movement.

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