The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 7 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Phobia.

For hope is when I dream those dreams I dared not dream.

I used to wear my minutes as accessories and now the minutes wear me.

But in this lifetime, we'll never know what we could've become.

The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 6 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Astronaut.

The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 4 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Shadow

The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 2 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Middle

Notun Bazar was burning, burning! /Shops, stores, woodpiles/ Piled up iron, timber, mosques and temples/ Notun Bazar was burning, burning!

The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 2 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Candle.

That evening, a blade sliced through string, through skin, red on red on red. Kutta, the man in khaki says. It is only later I realize it is me he is calling dog. Dog. Dog.

Using a Fulbright fellowship, Tarfia decided to come to Bangladesh to research the war and interview the women whom the Bangladesh government, in 1972, titled Birangona (war heroines). These interviews resulted in 'Seam' (Southern Illinois University Press, 2014).

my eyes can barely take the weight of sleep/ now/ now that you are wording sentences on wars

How can you talk about peace without taking into account war? Both are subjects not only of Tolstoy’s great novel but also of the two founding epic poems of Greek as well as Indian literature.

The top selections in poetry, flash fiction and artwork for Day 1 of the Sehri Tales challenge; prompt: Begin

To be human is to be a poet. And I will tell you why.

Great Man, now that you are dead, allow me to squeeze your hand. The sage bushes in Umbria are heavy with bees, so I’m killing them with hypnosis.

On the third day of the event, two documentaries were showcased. The first featured the infamous Belonia Battle, and Pakistan’s first and only surrender to the freedom fighters. It emphasised how the battle is closely intertwined with Bangladesh’s military history and has a special significance in the turn of events that led to our independence. 

"The first book I had published comprised a short story. My second book of short stories came out 14 years after that", the writer said.

Soundless on my flaking wall, you/ rest like a sniper in frigid fear,

You do not read Plath,/ Nor Milton./ Or Wordsworth./ Or Shakespeare. What do you read?/ Newspapers, current affairs,/ How to be great when you're good.