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MagazineJuly 18, 2013

unclassified i

Titan

“Titan” by Merlin Flower

unclassified i
neither one nor its other
sea nor sand
river nor land

father, my home
i leave behind
mother, this knot
i now unbind

my days of play
in your backyard over
your threshold strange
like a mountain range

days of laughter
left on stone
a shadow of vanished
flesh and bone

four carriers adorn
my traveling litter
and bear it on
shoulders that glitter

my very own
and those unknown
drift slowly
away from me

man nor woman
beast nor snake
fish nor fowl
real nor fake

take care, this home
was not for me
i leave now for
a far country

~ Waqas Khwaja

 

Waqas Khwaja is a professor of English at Agnes Scott College where he teaches Postcolonial Literature, British Romanticism, Victorian poetry and fiction, and Creative Writing. He has published three collections of poetry, the latest, No One Waits for the Train (Alhambra 2007), and edited several anthologies of Pakistani literature in translation. He was contributing translator and translation editor for Modern Poetry of Pakistan (Dalkey 2011), showcasing the work of 44 poets from Pakistan’s seven indigenous languages. He also guest edited a special issue on Pakistan for The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies (Spring 2011). 

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One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

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