sometimes one must retrace her footsteps to find
silver slippers in the grass
abandoned
when seeking a southern sun

as warmth pulls to the sky
naked toes
catch dew
we are grounded
then we fly

bite a bone, crack a tooth.

I'm a pro at herding instincts.
But crap at keeping them in the pen.

she was trying to show me things I didn't want to see.

there are kiss marks on my Qur'an.

in some cultures

chess is foreplay.

a simple matter of fun

run around at night without any purpose

whatsoever

if you want a man to tell you the truth

give him something to hold.

piecing together experiences to become whole vs

being whole and staying whole

if one does not radiate outward

one risks being pulled apart by contradictory

internal forces

eternal sunshine was a humbling counterargument to the sentiment that postmodern relationships are fragmented nothings

when all things are equally true

all things are equally meaningless

wrap yourself around said heart,
then squeeze

i'm watching strangers walk through my life.
in. and. out.

as if the end were near
whispers grow -
wishes of a departed soul
hellish musings beyond control
a pen in the dark runs out of ink
a heartbeat shakes the body whole

Muslims: without'em, more of y'all would be working this christmas.

if you can't respect the innocent, you're not worth respecting.

i bet you money

it's easier to be a nun

than a muslim woman.

put on some pants
comb your hair
tell yourself there is a God
and get on with your To-Do List.

innocence is

the slow re-emergence of a sleeping soul

on shared people-hood.

on other-ness.

on the loss of sleeping corners. losing them one by one.

my horoscope on the tv screen at the gas pump today

said I "speed over the freeways, but need to take the scenic country road" GAH. I just want to get to my destination!

postmodern people are horrendously fragmented.

beginning and ending as strangers.

i'm a spiritual malcontent who luxuriates too much in the senses.

i've been in the dragon's lair, and put out his fire.

encapsulated romantic episodes?

primordial cringe.

i turn people into creatures i want to keep.

corporate IMs are the best conversations ever. it's office telepathy.

nothing short of spectacular.

i hear wind against the windows.

i hate it when i want something, as i'm so much less agreeable.

my most entertaining habit: to mope and wallow.

spent a lot of time sniffing candy canes today.

i write myself into your life and it can't be taken back.

white curtains and amber lace.

I don't like food.

secrets float.

coffee is like vodka for muslims.

I'm tired of the visionless male and prophetic female.

Radiate.

in my stories, the girls always win. not so in life.

i would like to taser girls that giggle.

sometimes you need an eternal moment.

the severest flaw of a devoted soul: she luxuriates too much in the senses.

today i noted another casualty on the battleground of postmodern romance.

I too often move the mountain.

i prove that you live.

i'm doomed to be the magic mirror.

only loss forces decisions.

is well aware of the curse of interesting people.

emotions are innately unreasonable.

rainstorms turn people into fools.

jinn genie genius

cosmic rush

presence like an invisible shield in a duststorm

a beast that lives in a box under the floorboards
the (darlingstar)
(whisper its name)
(always)

free but still
a loophole fanatic

when shields and daggers fall from the sky, the best thing to do is not to ask why, but to run for cover.

trust a woman in barefeet who climbs trees
but never a man in barefeet who does the same

flirts and flakes (snow)
incongruous affections (fall)

tender-hearted devil

incidental miracles

i eat like a prisoner of war.

"wow, you're, like, empowered" said sara p bitterly, after I said I haven't really been in many relationships.  she was brooding over her latest break-up.  it was the best delivery of that line that could've happened, and it did :D.

characters whisper secrets that the mind races to collect, revelations for which the hands do not want to be responsible.

do not give me poetry without wisdom, or prose lacking a sense of poetry.

what we destroy in ourselves can be rebuilt, and that is how the heart learns resilience.

"each day I wish the mirrors could be silenced"

cold ground is best warmed by feet in night prayer.

best part of the day: eating chocolate cake in the men's bathroom.

she who wants to control everything should not want things she cannot control.

streetlights and moonshine.

i'm surprised

the phone doesn't burst into fire
when i look at it

the cure for a two hour commute: hot sauce before the drive

his eyes were wet
then the hourglass turned
and her glass comb
gleamed in the candlelight

So I swear by the afterglow of sunset. And by the night and whatever it gathers in its darkness. And by the moon when it is full. You shall travel from stage to stage in this life and in the Hereafter (the Realm Magnificent).
(Qur'an 84:16­19)

The choice to be a hermit always returns as the natural one. It's as if the venture into social normalcy was a phase, a test to witness the decency of people, that fails like paper's resistance to fire.

-June 2005

I was such a pessimist!

beauty destroyed
is not beauty forgotten

What has happened to your eyes? 
(The more) you tell them to stop, the more they continue flowing 
What is the matter with your heart? 
(The more) you tell it to come to its senses, the more it is distracted 
Does the lover think that his love can be concealed? 
While his eyes are shedding tears and his heart is glowing 

Qasida al-Burdah (Poem of the Cloak) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOIsNUj9r98&feature=PlayList&p=39B66E36A62E2C5D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4

i dreamt that i took an ice cream vendor to small claims court for giving me the wrong flavor. 

for fear of politicization, schools teach history in its most useless form.

romeo and juliet?

young love pollutes the gene pool.

i really enjoyed shredding paper today, and wondered what freud would have to say about that.

rain is a sign of mercy for the parched soul.

nothing makes me love solitude more than a hounding mother and the stupidity of men. and nothing drives me toward marriage more than the neuroses of an entrepreneurial single woman.

the perfect curse

to never be found fascinating by the ones you find fascinating.

it takes 3 generations in Muslim societies for any change to take effect because they do not value the views of youth or women.

the only real difference is attitude

the fallacy in an 'us' vs 'them' attitude is assuming 'we' can be redeemed and 'they' can be destroyed.

on phases of muslim american art

the defensive pr of the bush era has given way to obama era honesty and introspection.

honesty and gratitude
won't sit in the same room.

beware.

of sugar coated subversion.

Sometimes who you are
Is your biggest problem.

I care more for the underground than the ivory tower.

senseless are the imaginings of dreams where nothing is true and sorrow is whole.

I'm tired of people taking a jackhammer to the foundations of my soul.

I believe in saying something before you can't say anything.

friends and war.
names and strangers.

I've accepted it.

I'm fascinated by people with a complete lack of existential angst.

sometimes

you just have to scream louder.

i swear there's enough drama in a day of my life to fill five scripts.

it starts with fire and ends with rain.

I've been closing things a little too aggressively today.

I feel like I'm waiting for a conversation that will never happen.

Melting Pot American Says Yes We Can

Originally published in the Somerville Journal, a recent search for my name showed that it had also spread to the blogosphere:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/archive/x466649872/Living-on-the-hyphen-in-America-just-like-our-president-elect

http://www.blognetnews.com/Mass/author.php?author=Kat_Powers

http://www.cncec.org/phones-news.php?tag=phone_book&year=2008&month=Nov&day=12 (cites its source as the Merrimack River Current)

http://news.surfwax.com/movies/files/Chris_Rock.html (why am I on a Chris Rock page?)

necessary nourishment

I literally wither without ideas.

city of silence.

the wounds are worth your look at the end of the journey.

I don't take pictures with tall people, on principle.

one is more employable if she likes humans.

film school

is the fastest way to forget who you are

I find it awkward

to socialize with tall people.

i overdosed on solitude

and am now a hypochondriac.

revolutions

happen in living rooms.

doors

sometime sound like cats.

a sigh

is just a scream in disguise.

I take a lot of risks

but I'm really intimidated by jaywalking and fire.

Absurd and Futile

Muslims are too busy trying to be superhuman to admit they're human and non-Muslims are too busy demonizing Muslims to see they're human.

Meanwhile, a hermit in the forest yawns.

The Loudest People at a Table

are usually the stupidest.

Completely racist statement. Enjoy.

I wish white people were cultured and brown people had critical thinking skills.

A Car that Takes a Spot for Two

Is a failure to reach God.

A Car that Takes a Spot for Two

Deserves its windows smashed.
K-town. There is no mercy.

I'm Sorry that Palestinian Lives

Were such an inconvenience
To the creation of an Israeli state.

Survival Is Harder

for a person of conscience.

Sometimes

One needs to be slapped smart
by a scathing quip.

I'm Planting a Tree

at the end of the world.

Of Those Who Have Died

He is one of the few that I will miss.

Nation-States

Are so 20th Century.

I Limit My Time

With brown women. All they talk about is marriage. The generation above has them by the throat, and they don't even know it. They don't define the conversation. We do.

God Created Freaks

To keep the mainstream from drowning in their own bullshit.

He's Too Pretty

to be smart.