a d a . A d a . A D A
in the flash of your too brief shining
……….we hardly knew you
having rarely stepped out into spotlight
……….you were always busy
……….deflecting attention …….elsewhere
……….……….–there were always others
……….you felt more deserving of the moment
i recall a cultural event
……….–during those final months
……….……….with you already slipping away
……….……….and we too busy to note
……….when recording your speech
………………..was a nightmare for me
……….and no matter how i pumped up the amp
………………..you were all sighs and whispers
now ……you are all sighs and whispers……. still
and it is only now …….i realize
……….that if we need to recall you
……….we must also be very still
……….and listen closely for that gentle voice
a voice still permeating our present
Vancouver-based DesiPOC author Tāriq Malik has worked across poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and visual arts for the past four decades to distill immersive and original narratives. Born in Pakistani Punjab, he came reluctantly late to these shores, having first to survive three wars, two migrations, and two decades of slaving in the Kuwaiti desert before landing here. He is the author of a collection of short stories, Rainsongs of Kotli, a novel Chanting Denied Shores, UBC Press’s Unmooring the Komagata Maru – Charting Colonial Trajectories (Poetry section), and his poetry anthologies from Caitlin Press Exit Wounds, and Blood of Stone. His writing has appeared in The Polyglot Magazine, The Puritan, TWUC’s Write Magazine, The Aleph Review, and Verbal Art (July 2019), among others. He has been the Writer-in-Residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House (July 2023), and is the current Writer-in-Residence at the Polyglot Magazine website.