Jan. 10, 2022

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The Middle of Alone

By Nazifa Islam

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The Middle of Alone

            a found poem: Virginia Woolf’s The Waves 

By Nazifa Islam

 

I wake in the night glutted with penance

and ask Will I break in half?

Do I want someone to endure time for?

 

I am multitudes of people

but I have not loved suffering

and I grow numb

 

when the minutes are

yawning at me.

 

I long to laugh. Someone, remember

my scratched heart

with ease not anguish.

 

I am exhausted

with myself.

 

 

Previously published in Forlorn Light: Virginia Woolf Found Poems (Shearsman Books, 2021)


A headshot of Nazifa Islam

Nazifa Islam

Nazifa Islam (she/her) is the author of the poetry collections Searching for a Pulse (Whitepoint Press, 2013) and Forlorn Light: Virginia Woolf Found Poems (Shearsman Books, 2021). Her poems have appeared in Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The Believer, The Journal, DIAGRAM, and Beloit Poetry Journal among other publications. She earned her MFA at Oregon State University. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @nafoopal. Visit her website at www.nazifaislam.com.

Image description: A headshot of a female brown poet with a few strands of white in her long black hair which falls past her shoulders. It’s just possible to see that she is wearing a blue shirt. She stands in front of an off-white wall.

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