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)
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.