A head-and-shoulders illustration of Fatima. She has medium brown skin and is wearing a dark blue hijab with a bright purple and blue shirt. She has glasses and is smiling with her mouth open.

poem snippets by Fatima A. '25

searching for hope amidst darkness

something silly, something weightless,
i want my laugh to echo and not hit me back.

i am not a very avid reader but i have lately collected lots of short poems. i don’t think i have many words of wisdom or consolation, so here are some poems that i like to go back to every now and then. i hope that you can find solace or hope in some of these words.

light pollution should have taught me that hope demands hurt to be seen.

The Thing is by Ellen Bass
The Thing is by Ellen Bass
Meditations in an Emergency by Cameron Awkward-Rich
Meditations in an Emergency by Cameron Awkward-Rich
Things to do in the Belly of the Whale by Dan Albergotti
Things to do in the Belly of the Whale by Dan Albergotti
Samuel Beckett Letter
not technically a poem, but i really like this

the days walk by and i wait and i wait, i wait and i wait for you to come and the leaves come and they leave and i stand by the tree where you promised to be or maybe you didn’t but i stand by the tree with no rope but a good bit of hope and i jump at the sounds of passersby and each one brings pangs of disappointment and relief and i run around shadows measuring the times though it is hard to tell what time of the year i think winter never left but the doctor said it’s the chills so i run around asking children but they are far too happy to entertain my pleas and i ask the adults but they are far too miserable to interpret my dreams and i just wait and wait but i am getting too heavy for my hope but the stench of my presence is wafting through the air so you will know where to find me and not find me and i see the sun less and less and i have lost count of the days that have walked by but i have stood and stood, and i wait and wait, by the tree, under the strange twilight. 01 I wrote this after reading 'Waiting for Godot' so there are some vague references to that here

Poem by Langston Hughes
so simple, so powerful
Short Talk on Pain by Anne Carson
Short Talk on Pain by Anne Carson
Yellow by Anne Sexton
Yellow by Anne Sexton
Good Bones by Maggie Smith
Good Bones by Maggie Smith
Tired by Langston Hughes
Tired by Langston Hughes

 

and then the winter will let lose my wings,
unfreeze and breathe and fly far far away
into a fluff of clouds, above water—rain and lake and sea.

the blue that feels eons away,
for which i now weather away will be wrapped around my fingers.

Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver
Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver
To the Young Who Want to Die by Gwendolyn Brooks
To the Young Who Want to Die by Gwendolyn Brooks

i sing or cry or laugh & i would put my hands in mud to make myself last & though i want to live forever so earnestly, my hands can’t mold clay & in the dead of night, the gold i had woven turned out to be dust, waltzing with the warm sunlight.

look i want to love this world as though it's the last chance I'm ever going to get to be alive and know it.
October by Mary Oliver
While Everything Else Was Falling Apart by Ada Limon
While Everything Else Was Falling Apart by Ada Limon

oh, to be a mere celebration of oneself.

Chances Are by Sarah Clancy
Chances Are by Sarah Clancy
Miracle Fish by Ada Limon
Miracle Fish by Ada Limon

There is a motion picture I once dreamt,
I was dancing on the ground,
which was more like a cloud,
which was more like a floor of delicate mysteries.

I Don't Want to Live a Small Life by Mary Oliver
I Don't Want to Live a Small Life by Mary Oliver
There is Always Space in my Life for More Life by Natasha Rao
There is Always Space in my Life for More Life by Natasha Rao
Sudden Hymn in Winter by Joseph Fasano
Sudden Hymn in Winter by Joseph Fasano
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
of course i was gonna end with this
  1. I wrote this after reading 'Waiting for Godot' so there are some vague references to that here⁠ ↑