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Literature, PoetrySeptember 10, 2014

Boy in an Old Photograph

 An American Boy, by Jihane Mossali

An American Boy, by Jihane Mossali

He’s holding a split star
in the black holes of his eyes,
unsmiling, gazing out
at the new world:
his small round hands
in the pockets of his shorts,
his dark hair brittle as a shoe-brush,
flat-toed Bata shoes shiny,
socks folded around neat ankles.
He is standing stiff like a pillar
before the rushing stream
of his rolling senses,
muddy meetings of rising waters
in the chaotic city.
Time in slow drops.
His mother is not with him
to lament the humming in the shadows
at the end of his boredom.
Bright light winces off the walls.
No one suspects this picture
will not fit daintily
into the spectrum of his family album.
A pattern is broken.
It is his last photo,
but the camera keeps clicking
every year without him
in the dark lens.

~ Mir Mahfuz Ali

Mir Mahfuz Ali was born in Dhaka and studied at Essex University. He has worked as a male model and a tandoori chef, and as a dancer and actor. As a performer, he is renowned for his extraordinary voice  — a rich, throaty whisper brought about by a Bangladeshi policeman trying to silence the singing of anthems during a public anti-war demonstration. Mir Mahfuz Ali was the recipient of the 2013 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, and published his first collection with Seren in 2014.

‘Boy in an Old Photograph’ first appeared in ‘Midnight, Dhaka’ (Seren, 2014), and is republished here with kind permission from the poet.

Tags

BangladeshFeaturedJihane MossaliMir Mahfuz AliPoem of the Weekpoetry

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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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