Sameen Shakya
Sameen Shakya’s writings have been published in Alternate Route, Cosmic Daffodil, Hearth and Coffin, Roi Faineant and Thin Veil Press, to name a few. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, he moved to the USA in 2015 to pursue writing. He earned an Undergraduate Degree in Creative Writing from St Cloud State University and traveled the country for a couple of years to gain a more informal education. He returned to Kathmandu in 2022 and is currently based there.
Easy read of the poem in the images above:
A Poem About Relief
The first pain you learn is physical,
or at least in my experience it is.
A child falls off their bike, stumbles on laces,
catches a ball to the face, and more.
A million different things that teach them
how dangerous life can be.
Don’t worry, this is a poem about relief.
The next pain you learn is emotional,
or at least that’s what I believe it is.
The child’s told no by mother, father,
friends, and teachers. The child grows
to a teen who seeks and is stung by heartache,
which has its own lessons, I hope.
But this poem isn’t about pain.
or what comes immediately after. Which is
The ache! The dull feeling
of the sting of pain, because you see
pain leaves almost immediately
(in most cases) but the ache stays,
and keeps staying like an unwelcome guest
who can’t be evicted for whatever reason
so you’re stuck with them, making conversation,
but they’re really bad at it.
trust me, this is still a poem about relief.
And at first, you toss and turn in bed
mad, too mad to sleep, the sheets
on and off, because anger has a heat
all its own
that trickles, not sweat, but bile
down face and body. You yell
and yell
but nothing happens.
Gradually, you grow to accept it.
Often even forgetting they’re there
when you walk through the door after work
because you’ve other, more pressing, things
on your mind, only to realize, suddenly,
that they’re gone.
Oh, they’ll be back. But at the moment,
all you care about is the relief,
that forgotten friend
embraced after so long.
You could, and do smile,
even jump around.
See!
This really is a poem about relief.
But be careful,
in your excitement
if you stub your toe and feel a sharp stab,
and, oh no, don’t look behind you.
You know what? You decide
What this poem is about.
I quit.
