Welcome to Litsy!

This collection juxtaposes text from Google Search autocomplete with the intimate language of prayer. Corporate jargon co-exists with the incantatory and ancient ghazal form. Ahmed’s second book of poetry explores the terrain of loss—of a beloved family member, of human dignity & potential, of the earth as it stands, of hope. Her poems weave mourning with the erratic process of healing, skepticism with an unsteady attempt to regain faith. With poems that are by turns elegiac, biting, and tender, Bring Now the Angels conveys a desire to move toward transformation and rebirth, even among seemingly insurmountable obstacles: chronic disease, corporate greed, environmental harm, and a general atmosphere of anxiety and violence. BRING NOW THE ANGELS To test your pulse as you sleep. Bring the healer the howler the listening ear— Bring an apothecary to mix the tincture— We need the salve the tablet the capsule of the hour— Bring sword-eaters and those who will swallow fire— Fetch the guardian to flatten the wheelchair, to hoist it toward heaven: the public shuttle awaits the ceaseless trips to the clinic. To the bedside manner summon witness: this medic’s disdain toward patients the physician’s dismissal of pain— And call the druggist, again, to drug us senseless— Bring a nomad to index our debts tuck each invoice into broken walls of regret— Call the cleric the clerk the messengers divine—