POEMS FOR PUBLICATION IN IWABOGDANI-4TH
BIODATA:
Rokiah Hashim from Malaysia writes using the name of Siti Ruqaiyah Hashim. She graduated from University of Science in Malaysia in Theatre and Drama, then continued her studies in University of Sydney and obtained Post Graduate Diploma in Translation from Institute of Translations and Books in Malaysia. Starting from 1987 her poems and short stories were published by mainstream literature magazines and newspapers. She is also prolific in film and theatre critics and wrote since 2007 in her column in a major national daily in Malaysia and published a film critic book in 2015 titled Kritikan Filem Siti RuqaiyahHashim and some 250 articles. A bi-lingual anthology of her poems titled Catharsis/Katarsis in English and Bahasa Melayu was published in 2015 and Spanish in 2016. Her bi-lingual anthology together with 12 other world peace poets titled News From Strasbourg was published in 2017 in E Book form. All translation into Bahasa Melayu was done by Siti Ruqaiyah herself. Her bi-lingual second World Peace Poem anthology titled Peace Be Upon You Davos was published by Kultura Snova, Zagreb, Croatia in June 2019.
Her collection of poems were translated and published in Albanian recently by Ditet E Naimit 2019 titled Rerat E Sri Lavender. Her latest bi-lingual book is translations of ShaipEmerllahu poems In Bahasa Melayu and English titled EpalTetovo/Apples of Tetovo published by Kultura Snova, Zagreb, Croatia. Her works also appeared in numerous other anthologies together with other poets from all over the world and in foreign magazines and newspaper. Her poems were translated into 16 languages including English,Mandarin, Croatian, Uzbekistan, Arabic, Mongolian, Spanish , Albanian, Turkish, Russian, Bosnian, Serbian, French, Japanese and Romanian. She attended numerous local poem festivals in Malaysia and all over the world including Peru, Taiwan, Czechoslavakia, Morocco, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Tunisia, Albania and Croatia. She is currently living in Europe and an associate author with International magazine Diogen Pro Culture for World Peace (USA), Poetrybay (USA),GreenwatchBangladesh, Campus 247.Wordpress (Ghana), AtunisGalaktike Poetry (Brussels) IWABOGDANI (Brussels) and many others. Her poem won Best Poem in Split, Croatia in May 2019. She was awarded by IWABOGDANI, 10TH Yalta Chekov Festival 2019, International Forum of Creativity and Humanity, Morrocco 2020.
PRAYERS FOR AISHA LULU
Today Aisha Lulu, 5 years old An orphan from Gaza Died alone
Ah! The small martyr
Nobody from her family Allowed to follow her to hospital in Jerusalem Because that’s the rules Of check points soldiers of Zionist Though Aisha Lulu was fighting for her life From a chronique brain tumor
Only an unknown woman Allowed to accompany her For love and compassion of a small orphan Who doesn’t know anything About political game of the mighty and the powerful
That’s the pinch of humanity Shown to Aisha Lulu The orphan from Gaza
And Aisha Lulu died Crying to the end of of her life
Oh my! Where is humanity What is humanity Of the Chosen ones?
Al Fatihah for Aisha Lulu Maybe death is better for you, my angel.
AT TIME LIKE THIS
At time like this I want to hold your hands hug you tightly and cry on your shoulder as loud as possible and let you cry on my shoulder as much as you want because the wave of pain not decreasing at all in fact they are more humiliations after humiliations thrown at us and we could only watch as words are useless
Palestine oh Palestine! Since young I heard stories of your pain and we grew up approaching sunset with your tears and blood
My man times and times again I had said your pain is my pain at times like this my restlessness are united with yours and we the defeated ones inseparable and remained together the way you want it.
LOVE IN THE TIMES OF AL NAKBA
My man thank you for trying to fathom between the battles of the soul and the waves of my love to you and seeing every grain more than the dances of a gypsy woman
My man you are getting closer recognizing the rhytms of my footsteps between the foggy dictions whispered during our love dialogue of yester year while you were still dazed guessing and testing the enigmatic lake of my heart the depth of the trench of my soul at breakfast table during lunch dinner during journey when holding me tight as if not letting me go when we were parting and in shyness of being watched I buried my face of love on your chest and you make me promised I will not go back to miseries
My man thank you for still trying to build bridges of understanding until this moment and not giving up easily though engulfed by darkness without even a word
My man thank you in waves of thorny obstacles ocean of fire and non-stop missiles we are still there as how you want it as how I want it as what we promised during the most beautiful fall of yesteryear
Thank you God.
GAZA OH GAZA!
I don’t know how many times they asked Can poems fights phosphorus and tanks? Can it crush arrogance? and I don’t know how many times to tell them that spark starts from feelings turned into raging fiery words just like us sitting here reading poems throwing voices to the entire corners not because that’s all we can do but thatshow it started and ended
Gaza and Gaza again stories of your pain during last season introduced me to a traveler or he could be running away from his pains and the redness of blood spilled on your streets unite us
Today without realizing it your pain and wounds retained us here
Gaza oh Gaza! Your blood and tears make me forgot my own pain
Hey! they said that’s Diana Spencer Syndrome focusing on others pain and slowly it erases your own!
Oh I don’t care about it pain is pain doesn’t matter if itsan old mother who lost her young man on the bloody street of Gaza or that woman scarred for life under siege by proxy of a big power and she lives just at the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur
Gaza oh Gaza! your pain and mine are united now and it demands understanding submission and acceptance of fate and His decisions
At this point suddenly I realized again that road is never easy as difficult as trying to understand why babies cry at birth whom the Sufis say its because they are thrown into this world and suddenly realizing life is very much His moves and games and who are we to refute what had been decided In the Almighty Kingdom all along?
God Thank you
GAPENA HOUSE KL-JULY 2010