As a Matter of Facts and Fictions

Sumera Saleem

February 7, 2021

When time skins into symbols and numbers,

And our bodies shrink into equations and blunders,

To quantify the values of our valuables,

Statistics matters.

When death materialized in digits of dare or duties,

And life theorized into error and reason, terror and treason,

To differentiate riot from right,

Philosophy matters.

When the present floats on the waves of illusions,

And the illusionists trick the masses towards revolutions,

To scrub the mirror to clarity of vision,

History, Herstory matter.

When war-wizards hocus-pocus the East and the West,

And spell them on globe as fictions or facts,

To unmystify the histories of mysteries,

Art matters.

When unreal doubts dumb the curiosity to dream, 

And buzzily fix it in the borders of beliefs, 

To unborder matter and the matters from myths, 

Science matters.

When rage strikes up wrongs and revenge,

And dialogue sounds as a way to resent,

To free our ears from fitful frenzies,

Music matters.

When democracy depends on data and illusions,

And lies dopamine truth for delusions,

To survive for why I am who I am,

Politics matters.

When the mere idea of "we" brings wars and woes,

And acceptance springs for such ideas, not for the worlds,

To breathe meanings into your rugged bodies,

You, your views matter.

Sumera Saleem is a lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature, the University of Sargodha, Sargodha and Gold medalist in English literature from the University of the Punjab for the session 2013-15. Her poems have appeared in Tejascovido, Langdon Review published by Tarleton State University, USA, Blue Minaret, Lit Sphere, Surrey Library UK, The Text Journal, The Ghazal Page, Pakistani Literature published by Pakistan Academy of Letters, Word Magazine.