dreamland

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by Diya Abbas

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two of us girls slow dance in the living room
to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
 
someday love will fall out our hands like doves
and the world will not fall apart
 
she touches the hem of my collar
i bow like an edge into her thumb
 
she reads me a story about a girl
afraid of any room where her eyes are closed
 
trust in the imagination of the lover
and survive in every nation
 
//if i tie my red heart onto the camel’s back
my message will reach you by nightfall
 
i honor desire because i can
a continent against consequence
 
belief is a madman
leaning mercy against the shadow of the queer martyr
 
will you want me even under the shade
of God’s wrist?//
 
prayer is a girl’s name written in a diary
somewhere they write each other into a slow dance

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Diya Abbas is a first generation Pakistani poet from St.Louis. They were named the 2022 George B. Hill Poetry Prize winner. Diya is currently studying Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin Madison through the First Wave program.

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