Khalid Mukhtar

Word, like wind, cuts through you / Withers all but true you

Poetry

Ekphrasis of Meghan Tutolo’s “Young Night”

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My free verse entry for Rattle’s November 2015 Ekphrasis contest. On Meghan Tutolo’s Young Night.

Hand in hand, we take it all in:
The babble of the river,
The whisper of the wind,
The fading scream of a police siren
Somewhere on the other side of town
Making a play for the night’s attention,
But the night only has eyes for us:
You and me,
Standing hand in hand,
Taking it all in.

I squeeze your hand,
You smile that I’m not going to smile smile
That you often wield on nights like this,
And I squeeze your hand,
Again.

The night is young
And ours,
All of it.

Dawn

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Dawntime in the fall:
When beauty spies you
Admiring its bare, silent splendor,
It whispers,
“And you thought you knew me.”

Wisdom

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Wisdom is the father of intelligence:
Indulges and disciplines child
Till it rebels and runs away
Leaving him without a say.

Vanity

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You can help
By keeping out of the way,
But vanity is to stand out
While doing so,
Like a pinky tilted up
At afternoon tea.

Old Dame Rehmet

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Old Dame Rehmet weaved a tale
Like no one in her time,
With flying turnips, itching queens
And demons speaking rhyme,
She told them all in different voices
And the wildest costume choices.