Faria
@fariabasher.bsky.social
Emerging writer and Regional Winner (Asia) Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025. Here are poems I like, and some I love.
📍 Manila, sometimes Dhaka
🔗 https://linktr.ee/fariabasher
📍 Manila, sometimes Dhaka
🔗 https://linktr.ee/fariabasher
Who would have thought that pain // And weakness had such gifts / Hidden in their rough hearts?
‘The shaft’ by Helen Dunmore
‘The shaft’ by Helen Dunmore
December 14, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Who would have thought that pain // And weakness had such gifts / Hidden in their rough hearts?
‘The shaft’ by Helen Dunmore
‘The shaft’ by Helen Dunmore
Childhood dotted with bodies. // Let them go, let them / be ghosts.
‘Origin of the Marble Forest’ by Gregory Orr
‘Origin of the Marble Forest’ by Gregory Orr
October 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Childhood dotted with bodies. // Let them go, let them / be ghosts.
‘Origin of the Marble Forest’ by Gregory Orr
‘Origin of the Marble Forest’ by Gregory Orr
Even a small cough. / Even a small love.
from ‘Small Wire’ by Anne Sexton
from ‘Small Wire’ by Anne Sexton
September 27, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Even a small cough. / Even a small love.
from ‘Small Wire’ by Anne Sexton
from ‘Small Wire’ by Anne Sexton
I called her name into the fold between night and day. I called it without expecting her to answer.
‘Questions’ by Marie Howe
‘Questions’ by Marie Howe
September 8, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I called her name into the fold between night and day. I called it without expecting her to answer.
‘Questions’ by Marie Howe
‘Questions’ by Marie Howe
I thought I'd die / from being loved like that.
‘Annunciation’ by Marie Howe
‘Annunciation’ by Marie Howe
September 8, 2025 at 2:45 AM
I thought I'd die / from being loved like that.
‘Annunciation’ by Marie Howe
‘Annunciation’ by Marie Howe
Devoured him whole, in one big bite, / so he could see just how hungry a woman can be.
‘Like a Wife’ by Kate Baer
‘Like a Wife’ by Kate Baer
August 31, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Devoured him whole, in one big bite, / so he could see just how hungry a woman can be.
‘Like a Wife’ by Kate Baer
‘Like a Wife’ by Kate Baer
Hand on my heart. Hand on my stupid heart.
‘Meditations in an Emergency’ by Cameron Awkward-Rich
‘Meditations in an Emergency’ by Cameron Awkward-Rich
August 30, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Hand on my heart. Hand on my stupid heart.
‘Meditations in an Emergency’ by Cameron Awkward-Rich
‘Meditations in an Emergency’ by Cameron Awkward-Rich
Please / just open the door / to the sun
‘Swell’ by Hoa Nguyen
‘Swell’ by Hoa Nguyen
August 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Please / just open the door / to the sun
‘Swell’ by Hoa Nguyen
‘Swell’ by Hoa Nguyen
I was still myself after, but a new grief opened / inside me like an umbrella.
‘The End of Girlhood’ by Traci Brimhall
‘The End of Girlhood’ by Traci Brimhall
July 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I was still myself after, but a new grief opened / inside me like an umbrella.
‘The End of Girlhood’ by Traci Brimhall
‘The End of Girlhood’ by Traci Brimhall
I am altered by every person who / loves me with ifs—if only I were myself but not myself, if only
‘The Owl Question’ by Faith Shearin
‘The Owl Question’ by Faith Shearin
July 3, 2025 at 3:35 AM
I am altered by every person who / loves me with ifs—if only I were myself but not myself, if only
‘The Owl Question’ by Faith Shearin
‘The Owl Question’ by Faith Shearin
how will I fit all this life in one life? / I need a map, a vocabulary list; I can't learn the world // fast enough.
‘Piano Lesson’ by Faith Shearin
‘Piano Lesson’ by Faith Shearin
June 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
how will I fit all this life in one life? / I need a map, a vocabulary list; I can't learn the world // fast enough.
‘Piano Lesson’ by Faith Shearin
‘Piano Lesson’ by Faith Shearin
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
‘The Truth the Dead Know’ by Anne Sexton
‘The Truth the Dead Know’ by Anne Sexton
June 2, 2025 at 1:45 AM
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
‘The Truth the Dead Know’ by Anne Sexton
‘The Truth the Dead Know’ by Anne Sexton
you put it in, / you pull it out, the story’s over,
‘The Alteration of Love’ by Myra Shapiro
‘The Alteration of Love’ by Myra Shapiro
May 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
you put it in, / you pull it out, the story’s over,
‘The Alteration of Love’ by Myra Shapiro
‘The Alteration of Love’ by Myra Shapiro
I wanted so bad, so bad
to be so many things,
without the whole thing
falling down.
‘I Wanted to Be’ by Marc Kelly Smith
to be so many things,
without the whole thing
falling down.
‘I Wanted to Be’ by Marc Kelly Smith
May 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I wanted so bad, so bad
to be so many things,
without the whole thing
falling down.
‘I Wanted to Be’ by Marc Kelly Smith
to be so many things,
without the whole thing
falling down.
‘I Wanted to Be’ by Marc Kelly Smith
There was no childhood, just anticipation.
‘No Childhood’ by Adam Zagajewski
‘No Childhood’ by Adam Zagajewski
May 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM
There was no childhood, just anticipation.
‘No Childhood’ by Adam Zagajewski
‘No Childhood’ by Adam Zagajewski
and if we were a little droopy in the drawers it was / only because we lacked relevance. Our lives seemed / to exist next to our lives.
‘Exceptions with the Sloughing Off’ by Lilah Hegnauer
‘Exceptions with the Sloughing Off’ by Lilah Hegnauer
May 16, 2025 at 1:05 AM
and if we were a little droopy in the drawers it was / only because we lacked relevance. Our lives seemed / to exist next to our lives.
‘Exceptions with the Sloughing Off’ by Lilah Hegnauer
‘Exceptions with the Sloughing Off’ by Lilah Hegnauer
It’s not that you don’t love them anymore. / You’re trying to remember something / too important to forget.
‘The Art of Disappearing’ by Naomi Shihab Nye
‘The Art of Disappearing’ by Naomi Shihab Nye
May 13, 2025 at 7:50 AM
It’s not that you don’t love them anymore. / You’re trying to remember something / too important to forget.
‘The Art of Disappearing’ by Naomi Shihab Nye
‘The Art of Disappearing’ by Naomi Shihab Nye
you who have made bright things from shadows, / you who have crossed the distances to roost in me.
‘Birds Appearing in a Dream’ by Michael Collier
‘Birds Appearing in a Dream’ by Michael Collier
May 9, 2025 at 3:40 AM
you who have made bright things from shadows, / you who have crossed the distances to roost in me.
‘Birds Appearing in a Dream’ by Michael Collier
‘Birds Appearing in a Dream’ by Michael Collier
Your life is a dog. He’s been hungry for miles, / Doesn’t particularly like you, but gives up, and comes in.
‘The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog’ by Robert Bly
‘The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog’ by Robert Bly
May 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Your life is a dog. He’s been hungry for miles, / Doesn’t particularly like you, but gives up, and comes in.
‘The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog’ by Robert Bly
‘The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog’ by Robert Bly
If grief is love with nowhere to go, then / Oh, I’ve loved so immensely.
‘Greensickness’ by Laurel Chen
‘Greensickness’ by Laurel Chen
May 1, 2025 at 5:25 AM
If grief is love with nowhere to go, then / Oh, I’ve loved so immensely.
‘Greensickness’ by Laurel Chen
‘Greensickness’ by Laurel Chen
Our hearts were formed before our bones, // but what else do I really know / about myself?
‘Opposing Easels’ by Thomas Mixon
‘Opposing Easels’ by Thomas Mixon
April 30, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Our hearts were formed before our bones, // but what else do I really know / about myself?
‘Opposing Easels’ by Thomas Mixon
‘Opposing Easels’ by Thomas Mixon
He just looked at me. / That was when I knew.
‘The Last Time I Saw God’ by Michael Bazzett
‘The Last Time I Saw God’ by Michael Bazzett
April 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
He just looked at me. / That was when I knew.
‘The Last Time I Saw God’ by Michael Bazzett
‘The Last Time I Saw God’ by Michael Bazzett
I'm still a small body
on a big planet I'm still
the same person thinking
about foxes and the speed
at which they can run
‘Type to Learn’ by Natasha Rao
on a big planet I'm still
the same person thinking
about foxes and the speed
at which they can run
‘Type to Learn’ by Natasha Rao
April 19, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I'm still a small body
on a big planet I'm still
the same person thinking
about foxes and the speed
at which they can run
‘Type to Learn’ by Natasha Rao
on a big planet I'm still
the same person thinking
about foxes and the speed
at which they can run
‘Type to Learn’ by Natasha Rao
I am at your feet / Ready to do the walking for you
‘The Groveler’ by Dorothea Lasky
‘The Groveler’ by Dorothea Lasky
April 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I am at your feet / Ready to do the walking for you
‘The Groveler’ by Dorothea Lasky
‘The Groveler’ by Dorothea Lasky
The world holds you on its tongue / And no one can save you
‘The Amethyst’ by Dorothea Lasky
‘The Amethyst’ by Dorothea Lasky
April 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The world holds you on its tongue / And no one can save you
‘The Amethyst’ by Dorothea Lasky
‘The Amethyst’ by Dorothea Lasky