Apartment 5 [ Abdullah Bin Imran ]

Last night, I looked outside the window
from apartment 5.
I took in the smell of moonlight:
dried up husks; rainy dew;
cardamom?

I heard footsteps--
the honks of traffic lights.
Red. Green.
Clattering in the kitchen--
the bed was empty.
I was here. No wife.

The air grew cold: it was summer.
I bit my nails,
the footsteps
grow louder,
the honks
are silent.
I closed the window.

She came from behind,
the smell
of fresh blood.
I screamed. She laughed:
she handed me a cup of tea.

Abdullah Bin Imran is a 15-year-old Pakistani emerging poet. He is the author of The Fractured View (self-published) and We Are The Borders (Forthcoming from Rockwood Press). He is also editor-in-chief of a student-led journal, The Mzizima Inkpress, and writing editor of Anemone magazine and ARCHIVE Youth Journal, serving as a judge for ARCHIVE’s inaugural ‘Youth’ themed competition. His work has been featured on Five Fleas, 5-7-5 Journal, New Contexts: 8 Anthology and elsewhere.