Hark! / Busy work of Hands

teardrops trickling down / the valley / mingling with the static— / hollow waves of Kaptai lake

Maa, you are an endless exhibition / of sweet-sour happiness

My train just started / I found my seat / When she called me

Was it a spectacle—filmed the whole incident? / Why didn’t you withstand? / Why didn’t you try to desist?

The night smoke carries out the riots of innocents,

Rose-tinted glasses are just red, and I have painted myself with the color now that the hollow of your eyes isn’t there, now that 

Somehow, the taste of tear gas

Stay in a group, never in alleyways

Translated by Mohammad Shafiqul Islam

Leave a flower from your bun when you depart, my love.

The July wind brought in the scent of new beginnings

Magic boys and girls of Bangladesh, I love you.

In the blanks of muddy moonlight

A walkway through the crystal-clear lies

Review of 'Shamim Reza: Selected Poems' (ULAB Press, 2023)

Surely, it’s madness / it’s insanity—that he walked on

You've ignited a tempest, / a crimson anger, / A defiance burning brighter than the summer's sun

the way there was complete silence when you lied for the first time. You opened your eyes

But talks of harmony flood your nose. / Harmony, harmony, harmony—you want it so bad, / and so you put words in our mouths