Sabak amoz kahaniyan
my life has always had so little room
for my own mistakes, I learned
to live without margin for error.
my life has been building bridges,
dry-eyed, over other people’s spilled milk
and calling it success.
my life has been an aggressive state of All Right
my life has been survival as resistance.
my life has been straight As as armour.
my life has had so little to do with me.
my life has been all cautionary tales
and none of them have been mine.
I waltz barefoot over the broken glass of someone else’s life.
I pretend the bloody footprints are not mine.
I didn’t make this mess,
so it can’t hurt me,
right?
By Yusra Amjad
Translation of title: Tales with a moral/fables
Biography:
Yusra Amjad is a lifelong student of literature, poet, and writer in Lahore, Pakistan. She has been published at the Missing Slate, Crossed Genres, Cities+, and was a finalist for the 2016 Where Are You Press manuscript contest. She occasionally writes for Dawn.com and does some literary ranting at www.awallettokeepyourpovertyin.tumblr.com