"no money but bold with the guts"
May you be bold with your guts today.
May you find a red suitcase full of money and give it all away.
Ismail Gulgee, Untitled (Calligraphic Abstract), Pakistan, 1996
A Woman is Laughing
by Fahmida Riaz, tr. Anketa Saxena
Under the singing watch
of a rocky mountain
a woman is laughing.
No fame, no money
but bold with the guts
of a free body:
a woman laughing.
In all the world’s temples,
you will not hear the lush tremor
of a woman laughing.
In the market of all treasures,
you will not find the baby balm
of a woman laughing.
This rare narcotic she bears
so freely cannot be captive, sold.
Come then, become breeze.
In the wild valley, lapping
her face with kisses –
hair flying long and loose,
wind’s daughter is singing
alongside the wind:
a woman is laughing.
Published in Modern Poetry in Translation, Origins of the Fire Emoji, 2020
Creative Invitation
What was the best, longest, most hysterical laugh you can remember? Who have you shared such laughter with? Imagine you kept a small bottle of this laughter serum in a drawer. When would you uncork it?
Describe the sensations and the circumstances of your most delicious out-of-control laughter.