My City of Night

by Deena Habib

Karachi, 

ripped city

city of ripped buildings 

ripped history 

my city of night

fear city 

don’t go outside city

fear the outside city

inside city

of the Worst Case Scenario 

shit gone to shit 

city of jagged breaths and 

scratching fever

city that burns plastic

city neoned with snack wrappers and broken green bottles

city of wire locks 

coughing generators 

gradients of smog

electrocution 

blackouts 

and

drooping dead leaves

of suffocating old trees.

Karachi,

my city of night

city drenched with creeping bougainvilleas

splashes of fuchsia and green

city of sleeping trees

dotted with history’s pollen

city of coexistence and catharsis 

city of synchronized prostration

city of promised mornings 

city of home made dahi

of recyclers on carts

of seasonal fruit facilitating the seasons

food cooked with respect

old wrinkled ladies 

with ancient desert wisdom

mantras of oneness

city of souls

softened by monsoon wind

city of swollen hearts

witness city

apocalypse city 

city of whispering change

city fertile with hope

of the infinite possibilities 

of anything but this.

Deena Habib is a poet, artist, and performer drawn to the powers of the earth & human connection. In her writing, she harnesses her ancestral energies of movement, displacement and in-betweenness, and plays around with the magical truths of darkness emitting light. She also creates channeled drawings called “transmissions”, where she expresses her awe of the vast intricacy of individuals and the potent healing that emerges when we connect with ourselves, others, and nature. 

You can find her hugging trees, chatting with plants and hanging out with her grandparents at instagram.com/borderfairy.

visual by rubaab mohammad.