March 5, 2017

Three Poems by Olfa Philo: "Flood," "Assassin," and "Denied Passion"

Olfa Philo is a writer from Tunisia and holds a PhD in American literature. She is an English teacher and an ex-international volleyball player. Her cause as a poet is to voice the buried emotions and phobias of the oppressed and the downtrodden and also to unmask and expose hidden truths socially considered as taboo or shameful. She is a female rebel at heart who wages war against injustice, marginalization, intimidation, objectification, subjugation and violence against the powerless. Her weapons are peaceful, yet bullet-like words. Her poems have appeared in different online and print literary journals in Tunsia, USA, UK, Canada, India, Asia, China, Albania and Serbia. Some of her poems have been translated into Arabic, Serbian, Chinese, Albanian and the Assamese language. She has published so far a play entitled  "Sublime Revenge" and a collection of poetry entitled "(Un)jailed," both available on Amazon.









Flood

have you ever tasted the wine of grief ?
when you drink & drink to reach
that hallucinant & drowsy state
after smoking kif
not just a small dose
before meals as an aperitif
but all your meals & beverage
taste the same (in brief)
and your brain is kidnapped
by a malicious thief…

have you ever taken an overdose of this wine?
till you forget
your name,
your gender,
your identity,
your bloodline ?
and you're left with two choices:
become a Sufi or curse the Divine...

have you ever tasted death in life?
when envious eyes around you
become rife
& you've the impression
that some folk have
no longer a tongue
in their mouths
but a knife
and that they've mystically
programmed you to suffer
inner & outer strife…

has this red wine ever entailed a flood?
& found yourself suddenly bathing
in your own wine/ blood ?
yet still persisting to
swim against the tide
till you end up infused
into the earth's mud…

First published in MeArteka Literary










Assassin

if only I could change destiny...
if only I could turn back the hands of time...

if our sparkling eyes had met in our tender age,
we'd have been two cheerful birds in the same cage ...

your company would have made me
shed tears of joy & laughter,
instead of sorrow till the hereafter…

we would have kisses
as language day & night,
& you'd have been
my longed for knight…

we would have sailed
daily in the ocean of love,
while being watched over by
the moon & stars above …

I would have danced
on the strings of your guitar,
& you would have danced
on the beats of my heart...

we would have touched
each other deep inside,
instead of being ejected
by the flood tide...

we would have quenched
the flames of our fire,
instead of having
a censured desire...

I would have been a happier
bride in her white dress,
instead of feeling raped in
her wedding bed…

my ink would have written
a much more joyful verse,
& this insatiable love
would have inspired
the whole universe…

but

time is cruel
and
you are "un-assassin"
'cause
you are not free now
to dry my tears &
be "mon nouveau destin"…

First published in MeArteka Literary











Denied Passion



if loving you is a social stigma
let me be the ostracized enigma!

if loving you is a premeditated suicide,
let me taste this spiritual ride!

if loving you is a damned blazing fire,
let your flames consume my flesh & attire!

if loving you is a pure touch of madness,
let me break the chains of reason & sadness!
Photo submitted by Olfa Philo

if loving you is a terrible sin,
let your hell take me in!

if loving me is a deviation from the right path,
who on earth is judged for his cardiac wrath?

if loving me is a challenge to social norms,
who the hell dares to stop passion's storms ?

if loving me is a grave grammar mistake,
how come you copy others & your heartbeats forsake ?!

if loving me in your life may entail an earthquake,
what's the nectar of living without shakes & breaks?

if loving me makes you feel bewitched & charmed,
who on earth dares to shun Venus's arms?

if touching me may ignite your restrained fire,
what the hell makes you brake your desire?

if loving me may drive you deaf, dumb & blind,
why don't you be a unique lover in losing your mind?

if each inch in your body is longing for mine,
why don’t you get drunk with love's wine?

if this love is poisonous & denied the right to fly,
isn’t it worthy to consume it then together die ?




© Olfa Philo


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