Phd Haiku

Do a Phd
Like drowning in an abyss
For 3 to 5 years

Bird of Jannah

Bird of Jannah

Free of her Northwestern cage

Swaddled in comforting black

A solo hijrah

Then a Shaam marriage

With her mujaheed Abu

A stranger who will leave her widowed

(But not too soon!)

Bird of Jannah

Perched in a little apartment in Syria

Cleaned of wallstains

Emptied of former occupants

They eat Pringles

Watching TV

‘As the World Burns’ she says

‘’Flames of War’ he corrects her

Bird of Jannah

Two little chicks in her nest

Raising them for martyrdom

Complained about the Australian cleric

Saw his son kicking a ball

‘Not a soccer ball

But a hooligan’s head’

Apu corrects her

Bird of Jannah

Bound by rules of hudud

Rejecting the West

Watching Frozen

Fighting on Twitter and Facebook

For all the muslims killed

By US bombs and guns

(And the Jews!)

Bird of Jannah

Surrounded by widows

Gabbing crows on a line

In her kitchen Nutella with tea

Happy if her Apu does return

Happier if he does not

But goes instead to Jannah

To meet his virgins

Bird of Jannah is the second wife

Bowing to the first, death

Daddy Secret

Baby boy

At night

When you won’t sleep

The real reason

I put you on my shoulders

Walk you down to the station

To see the birds nesting noisily

In the remnants

Of the old destroyed forest

Is so I can hear your tiny heart

Beating against my temples

As feathers drift down around us

And late commuters trudge past