249 Results with the "Poetry" genre


    • The Red Lacquer Music-Stand Cover
      by LovelyMay In this chapter titled The Red Lacquer Music-Stand, the story opens with a boy awakening to the enchantment of dawn, overwhelmed by a sense of awe that seems to saturate the air around him. The moment feels both sacred and surreal, as shifting sunlight slices through darkness with vivid precision. He watches as morning light invades the stillness with golden slashes and vibrant red reflections, like something alive trying to claw its way into the waking world. These movements are described with such…
    • Chapter

      Towns in Colour

      Towns in Colour Cover
      by LovelyMay In this chapter titled Towns in Colour, introduces a vivid meditation on urban life, emotion, and perception through a tapestry of contrasting images. The narrative invites readers to navigate a series of scenes where mood, space, and color reflect both external realities and internal responses. From the start, the setting—a darkened church echoing with Latin hymns—establishes a tone of solemn ritual and human helplessness in the face of death. As priests chant and incense thickens the air, the body at…
    • Chapter

      Spring Day

      Spring Day Cover
      by LovelyMay In this chapter titled Spring Day, the narrative unfolds as a meditation on emotional contrast, beginning with grief and moving toward subtle renewal. It opens with the image of a boy mourning the loss of his beloved treasures, consumed by fire, leaving behind only ash and charred stone. The sorrow of this moment is underscored by the slow strike of a clock, a sound that signals the return to routine and the world’s indifference to personal loss. Yet this sense of detachment is not the chapter’s…
    • Chapter Eleven: Hypatia of Alexandria Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter follows Arash Shirazi, a young Iranian man conscripted into military service during the Iran-Iraq War in 1984. With no means to avoid enlistment, Arash reflects on the absurdity of war and the shift from a revolution led by idealists to one controlled by armed zealots. He resigns himself to his fate, imagining his future as just another martyr's photo on the mosque wall. His observations highlight the senselessness of war, where men like him—poor, uneducated, and without special skills—are…
    • Chapter

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Twelve Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter introduces Cyrus Shams, an Iranian-American navigating life in the Midwest during the post-9/11 era, where he grapples with xenophobia and cultural alienation. Cyrus perceives natural phenomena like storms and sunlight as personal affronts, reflecting his broader sense of isolation. His upbringing is marked by microaggressions, such as a math teacher’s racist joke and a social studies teacher’s condescending remarks about U.S. intervention in the Middle East. These experiences highlight…
    • Chapter Thirteen Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter introduces Roya Shams, a woman living in Tehran in 1987, who reflects on her ambivalence toward life and the constraints of her marriage. She describes her limited personal freedoms, cherishing small moments of solitude like sipping tea or doodling, which stand in stark contrast to her domestic responsibilities. Roya’s husband, Ali, is friends with Gilgamesh, a police officer, and the two men take annual trips to Rasht, leaving Roya briefly free from the exhaustion of constant scrutiny.…
    • Story

      Martyr!

      Martyr! Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin “Mar­tyr!” is a thought-pro­vok­ing poet­ry col­lec­tion by Kaveh Akbar that explores themes of faith, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, iden­ti­ty, and self-sac­ri­fice. Through pow­er­ful, evoca­tive lan­guage, Akbar delves into the inter­nal con­flict between reli­gious devo­tion and the human expe­ri­ence, espe­cial­ly focus­ing on the con­cept of martyrdom—the ten­sion between sur­ren­der­ing one­self for a cause and the self-affir­ma­tion of per­son­al iden­ti­ty. Akbar uses his poems to inter­ro­gate the nature of…
    • Chapter

      Cyrus Shams

      Cyrus Shams Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter opens with Cyrus Shams, a disheveled and drug-addled young man, lying in his squalid Indiana apartment, desperately seeking a sign from God. After years of silence, he interprets a flickering light bulb as a potential divine message, though he questions whether it’s a miracle or just faulty wiring. Cyrus reflects on the unfairness of biblical figures like Muhammad and Saul, who received unambiguous revelations, while he is left grasping for clarity. His longing for a tangible connection with…
    • Chapter

      Chapter One

      Chapter One Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter introduces Cyrus, a medical actor at Keady University Hospital who portrays dying patients or grieving family members for medical students to practice difficult conversations. He finds purpose in inhabiting various roles, from Sally Gutierrez, a mother losing her daughter, to Buck Stapleton, a Catholic coach facing his wife's brain death. The job requires him to calibrate emotional responses based on pain scales while evaluating students' empathy through score sheets. Cyrus enjoys the…
    • Chapter

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Two Cover
      by testsuphomeAdmin The chapter opens with Cyrus attending an AA meeting at Camp5 Center, a dingy lavender recovery clubhouse frequented by a mix of old-timers and reluctant newcomers. The setting is vividly described—cigarette smoke, a dim basement with plastic tables, and the no-nonsense presence of Angus B. selling cheap snacks. Cyrus’s sponsor, Gabe Bardo, a seasoned figure with 33 years of sobriety, sits quietly beside him. The meeting’s broad topic, “life on life’s terms,” sparks disjointed shares, from a…
    Note