Adeeba Talukder
Saifi
his cheeks were soft,his eyes were white.
they found him,
scrubbed his heart of sun
the dove talks blue all day:
If I were not, what would I be?
Shaam
Heer, your eyes of kohlan army-- thirty black horses.
your teeth like white petals,
your chin an apple
from the King’s orchard.
When the smoke rises,
how will we hide it?
Adeeba Talukder is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program (Class of ’15). She has translated Modern and Classical Urdu poetry and Modern Persian and Dari poetry. Her poetry has previously been published in Stirring: A Literary Collection, and her translations in Consequence Magazine, PBS Frontline, ArteEast, and the Huffington Post.