NOORMOHAMED

Hooker pipe, and hush, there’s a dome in my sight, I’m keeping it kosher in the casbah tonight The music’s from New York, but who’s listening to that? The rug is so enchanting it could fly me to Rabat   Inhale, exhale, I’m smoking, puff puff, in Arabic My camel’s parked outside, it’s time to […]

are you the lord budha, he asked the boy set silent in his cross-legged pose unperturbed two houseflies hovered over his head and landed on its shaven top sweat beads had formed on the top of his mouth   then he moved his lips you are of what you think and I would have loved […]

down on you and you fear it may dissolve your brain just when    you    need    you    it    the    most so      you     run     away       from      the   d           r               o             p            s like a madman thro- wing bits and p   i  e   c   e   s             of your thoughts all around. Trying to remember what it was […]

It always starts with violins and I open my eyes thinking it is heaven; just the alarm set to Vivaldi’s Spring Allegro I I walk out grumpy looking like I’ve dressed for Whitehall. My day is set, red, amber, go. The morning dawns in traffic jam, so this is my rock n’ roll beginning Car […]

I shan’t say what or how, but this I believe brick and a brick, we can build justice for cement, truth for roof heart and a mind, we can make   I shan’t think of how many times it has fallen, but still I believe law and a law, we can change justice for market, […]

You could do well with a book   Love leads to quicksand and that gaol of fools Love makes us dartboards and slights of ridicule   Love isn’t necessary It’s all right for a while But be careful where you store it as it oft turns to bile It’s ok to spend the day with […]

I see no use in this beautiful day. No warmth in its counterfeit glimmer of comfort. On the tree, two birds cavort like they know each other. I, on the other hand, find no rhythm in strangers. I see no point in these lofty grains of hope when breathing is thick with stunted life. Beyond […]

I remember the oddest things. Like the box of knick-knacks in our attic of private jokes Your pseudo lactose intolerance that extended only to cheese   Your choking on your first cigarette The intersection of our arguments about gods and nature, your chameleon world-view positions performed for the audience Your mascara painted lashes, reciting Anthony and […]

There is a light outside our house with a yellow Chinese glow, that at 5 pm on a dark November evening is the brightest thing around. There’s a Turkish, a Korean, and a halal chicken shop outside. Mrs Pickles at No.3 has been to India six times, she tells me every day. On Brecknock Road […]

He wonders if healing equates forgetting if happiness is sitting cross-legged with a prism of suns to blind that blotch. He smiles as the thundering storm settles on his chest When the pain stops hurting, it sleeps discreet   He wonders if moving is the plateau of the spotless mind if honour is erasure of […]

an abrupt collision of faces we look shocked, or surprised, and almost say hello so I quickly hide behind my mind and recall the memory of a ghost   no, this is someone else   I see you walk ahead surrounded by your thoughts shouting at each other you pick something you don’t need from […]

Who would have thought you could choke me up like that? I can hold my breath, but you – you had to take it further. The living daylights never showed because the sun set upon us for three days. I was busy burning bridges, and you – you had to take down my house.   […]

A sparkling explosion of megasound this is a nova of John’s sun and Paul’s star inscribing itself in the chromosomes of your DNA it is musical notes of the flamenco steps of Freddie’s flamboyance and the piano riffs of Chris Martin’s mind, into the dark alleys of Stipe’s words, and Dwight’s pain, and Sumner’s verse. […]

In case you didn’t know, Or maybe you forgot, I have left the keys to my house Underneath the earthen pot. You can always come in And make yourself at home. It is from the clever choices we make That we end up all alone.

All farewells should be sudden immediate, impromptu and quick none of that unwarranted deluge of emotion, unnecessary party expenses, or that uninvited realisation that we are, after all, dispensable   Farewells need never be announced lest they come with oh so pitiful remorse Why so soon? We’d only just begun to like you We’d only […]

Because I need more time Love isn’t an ice cream you lick It doesn’t melt in the sun It burns in here Look.   Because I’m not ready yet My feet have cracked and my soul is weak Love isn’t a bottomless well of forever It sizzles like antacid powder And then flat   Because […]