What I Heard
It is concentrated to a paste
Thick enough to stick a knife in.
A damp-sweet pungency you can’t help but smell.
What is the smell?
An experience so striking you shivered
Hazy legs upon arms
A high better than any other high
Even after the floods wash the fossils through.
A secret, sat on its knees at your birth
And you found that it loved you
The things that tie your memories together are a lie
When they unwind (beat) you will lose linearity
And in losing linearity you will communicate with the secret
Reconstituted sinew reminds you of your purpose
What was in your gut on the muddied climbing frame
To live and die like no one else
There isn’t much love to go around
As much as I looked that was the only thing true
But when I saw a dozen men and women, squirming like prawns on the hospital floor
It was then I found God
When their breathing was all I needed to console me
Across the long, gentle night.
Ameer Azad is our current Poet-in-Residence. Every now and then we find a voice that sings (or screams) to us. Those voices that show us something new - whether beautiful or repulsive - voices from out there that somehow resonate deeply. Voices we just 'get'. When that happens we graciously ask that they join us for a time. To live and scream along with us.
You can learn more about Ameer, his work and voice in his fantastic interview here.
We also invite you to follow Ameer on Instagram by hitting the button below.
We're constantly on the look out for new artists, creatives and initiatives to feature in TheNeverZine - so if you are, or know someone who is going their own way and doing their own thing on their own terms and would be a good fit to feature please smash that button below and get in contact. By talking to each other, and sharing our journeys, ideas and insights on creativity, art, mental health and resilience we can all create, share and thrive together. Nice thought that.
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