S. M. Yahiya Ibrahim
Facebook Poems
Facebook Poem (01)
On the dining table
a woman is serving ‘biryani’
in my plate.
Another woman is searching
the body of her dead man
in the Rohingya forest.
My fingers are continuously slipping
through the screen of my cell phone.
Her ten or perhaps eleven years old son
gasps for breath.
An injured daughter is screaming
on her shoulders.
I posted a crying emoji on that Facebook video
and got up from the chair.
My friends must be waiting at our highway adda.
Late at night
when I shall come back
I will check the newsfeed.
By that time
she will get the dead body.
I am quite worried about Zainab.
Facebook Poem (02)
Sitting in my car
parked under the shed of a roadside tree
I am scrolling Facebook newsfeed.
At a distance
in the corner of a local market
Ayesha and Sadia - my two daughters
are getting henna applied on their hands.
Sushant and Vikrant
Are carving beautiful mehndi designs
on their palms and wrists.
Kilometres and kilometres away
from Jamshedpur
in Indore
a bangle seller is brutalised
for infiltrating
for selling bangles
with a changed name.
I posted an angry emoji
on the Facebook post
shared Sarojini Naidu’s poem
Bangle Seller and
looked at the happy face of my daughters.
© S. M. Yahiya Ibrahim
