وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ مِن سُلَٰلَةٍ مِّن طِينٍ
ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَٰهُ نُطْفَةً فِى قَرَارٍ مَّكِينٍ
ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا ٱلنُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْمُضْغَةَ عِظَٰمًا فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَٰمَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَٰهُ خَلْقًا ءَاخَرَ ۚ فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَٰلِقِين
Verily, We have created the human from a quintessence of clay; then We placed him as a drop in a fixed resting place. We then made the drop into a clot and that into a fetus. We then made bones and clothed the bones with flesh and from that brought forth another creation. Therefore, blessed is God, the very Best of those who create. (23:12−14)
The Qur’an presents a view of the human as a physical creature, a spiritual creature, a creature naturally disposed to worship, and an enlightened creature. Our body, our spirit, our predisposition to worship God, and our light are gifts sent directly from God to serve as critical means toward our attaining human perfection. That perfection lies in cultivating those aspects of the spirit that transcend its animating qualities, actualizing our disposition to worship, and refining our light. When this happens, the human is a beautiful creature, and as such, a fitting object of divine love, for as our Prophet ﷺ mentioned, “Verily, God is beautiful and loves beauty.”
We are all human beingsWe all have our own livesAnd different ways we live themBut each one of us is a writerAnd this poem is for all of you
All of you who have virtues and use them in your writing
Beginning the story from the middle for that’s usually where your mind is atLooking back then looking forward Studying the past so you can be ready for what is to comeRecording catastrophes with a number two pencilTales and blurbs of tragedyCaused by love or the lack thereofRewards and punishmentSelf-reliance and self-fulfillmentWe are mere narrators
Humble, may be
unreliableEquipped with numerous devicesIronic ParadoxesRed herringsFortuitous plot twistsMetaphorsAllegoric hyper-bolesAnalogiesWe’re visionary revolutionaries
Revolution of the mind, body, and soulChanging ourselves and examining who and what we areTo become what we are destined to beThe bestRejecting conventionBuilding our own pathsThat lead to cliffhangersSpiritual healingReligious speculationAnd the questioning of the way we, the people are being governedWe use the tools we are giving to sculpt new art that the world can stand in awe ofPersonification, Symbolic imageryPracticing pastiche with respect
Dionysian imitation,
Surreal reality, Defying mortality, Reiteration, and retort
Using nature to express emotion and thought
Doubts and fear, Opposites, Morals and ethics, Satisfying curiosity
Parodying what we see
Embellishing just a little
We use wordplay to dive deep into the topic of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious thought.
Using satire to poke fun at the human condition, its senses, and perception of the universe to get readers thinkingExpressing our anger, our boundless joysDesiring unknown pleasuresSeeing past the fallacies put before usWe write with great candor about war, personal conflicts, and self-abuseWith hinting undertones to give these ideas a second thoughtWe write of the supernatural, metaphysical mysteries
Outlandish, obscure mind-boggling
theoriesAs the clock ticks too fast for us and the characters we’ve createdDemolishing the fourth wall with a sledgehammer of defamiliarizationEpiphanies in a parking lot
Speaking in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd personUsing fun things like anagrams and palindromesCandy for the lovers of such thingsSpontaneity is an understatementNonsense is an insulting overstatement
Absurdity seems to fit just right
We are humans
We can write in various forms
Streams of gratifying brilliant consciousness
And chose to use or merely acknowledge the ways to achieve these forms
Rhetoric, rhythm, and rhymeConceit and consonanceAssonanceIntonationWorking with phonaesthetics And accenting aestheticsA poem can or could not be organized as such
If we want to get technical about it
We have a poemWith a number of versesAnd in those versesAre linesAnd those lines might rhymeAnd have a meter or rhythmStressed or unstressed syllablesIn contrast to that, we may write
Without all of that and use emotion
Feeling and structure our work with what we feel is the best way
Line breaksPauses and punsAmbiguous antonyms Intonation, linguisticsFight against the fascists of grammar and conservative correctness
So, in the end,
we are writers of rainbow kaleidoscope forms, devices, ways, and ideasBut we alone are the ones who make the world thinkMake it move, Revolt, Renew, Learn
Look back, Remember, Cry, Smile, Forget, Ease
Write our friends write until your mind explodes and your fingers bleedRead, read and become inspiredForget getting published it’s the writing that mattersDisregard the off-putting, critical chatterAnd if you think no one readsThen be the seed and sprout a tree of astounding artistryAnd let’s begin a new movement composed of ideals that will hold true forever
I might be preaching to the choir but it must be said that; literature isn’t dead.
A little escape from the madness
This sociability is predicated, in part, on the upright stature of the human. His heart always points outwards. As a result, when he embraces another human, the hearts of two are joined, establishing a metaphysical connection between them. For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ has warned the believers, “Lā tadābarū (do not turn your backs to one another).” The Qur’an reminds us that the spirit is a distinct nonphysical creation breathed into the physical body.
