December Suns & July Showers - By: Naziha Ullah

The wicked untimely winds of the north

cloud May clouds.

Grey the early morning

The September fog smudges silver streaks into its soft bellies,

The Sunday skys weeps in shards

that pierce my skin.

Not enough to cut past the pain,

just enough to re-open and season

Stale wounds.

Placing rolling boulders

Into my head,

pounding

L e f t and r i g h t.

Like a hopefully desperate mother

Whose child,

simply,

gone with the wind

With no credible eyewitnesses

Sits with his scent in hand,

Praying to the indifferent unknown.

The voice of reason

Has been convoluted by

His counterpart,

Running dry,

Ragged and hoarse.

My shadow has finally seized.

I told him to flee,

Because I failed to convince him I was

A worthwhile subject to follow.

And in the hollow that follows absence,

silence grows teeth.

It chews at the edges of my mind,

gnawing questions I cannot quiet.

They echo against the ribs of night,

whispering possibilities that sting

louder than truth itself.

What if

Is a dangerous game to play.

For it is the unknown that we fear the most

And what if

Is the ruler of that realm.

Wallowing amongst the willows

Withering away,

Wandering the wonder lust filled world

Of wavering.

I wait.

To be granted a wish.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

This is a poem that explores grief, loss and anguish in the form of its manifestations in nature while also touching on desperation in prayer and wishes hoping for a sign or some kind of hail mary of saviour. At its core, this poem deals with a minute sort of uncertainty and the heavy feelings that can accompany it.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

I wrote this poem while exploring my own manifestations of navigating grief, uncertainty and how it can be mirrored in different aspects of people and nature. I took inspiration from myself as well as from nature it self.

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I am really interested in the different ways we can talk about our raw and real feelings and so I wrote this an a release for myself.

Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?

Our emotions and feelings are a beautiful thing, whether positive or negative, they make us who we are and we can take and learn so much from them. Just as poetry is what you make it! Our emotions are only as important as we make it. So allow yourself room to feel and to grow!