Fizza Abbas is a writer based in Karachi, Pakistan. She is fond of poetry and music. Her works have been published in more than 80 magazines, both online and in print.  Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Poetry Village, Petrichor, One Hand Clapping Magazine and Poetry Pacific.

A Handicapped Writer

Let me warn you about something
If you're looking for The Kreutzer Sonata
You may not find it here.

My poems are slow, non-rhythmic 
like me,
Lazy as mornings 
pretend 
to be.

Silent, motionless 
as the night 
lurking
in the willow trees.

Don't mistake me 
for an accomplished writer
I don’t know
what that
means.

I'm a handicapped poet   
tied   
to the strings 
of a third-world country.

(My door is ajar
but only winds 
touch the doorstep)

My shipments 
disappear,
to be lost forever
into the courier blackhole.

Payment gateways for my country
exist 
in the ether
out of reach
and beyond 
reproach.

They say, learn to run
with your cane
but never say how
and when to tread
slowly.