Bring Now the Angels: Poems

This collection juxtaposes text from Google Search autocomplete with the intimate language of prayer. Corporate jargon co-exists with the incantatory and ancient ghazal form. Ahmed’s second book of poetry explores the terrain of loss—of a beloved family member, of human dignity & potential, of the earth as it stands, of hope. Her poems weave mourning with the erratic process of healing, skepticism with an unsteady attempt to regain faith. With poems that are by turns elegiac, biting, and tender, Bring Now the Angels conveys a desire to move toward transformation and rebirth, even among seemingly insurmountable chronic disease, corporate greed, environmental harm, and a general atmosphere of anxiety and violence. BRING NOW THE ANGELS To test your pulse as you sleep. Bring the healer            the howler                    the listening ear—   Bring                an apothecary               to mix               the tincture—             We need the salve the tablet                      the capsule             of the hour—                Bring sword-eaters and those          who will swallow fire—                                                 Fetch the guardian   to flatten the wheelchair,                                     to hoist it toward the public shuttle awaits                                     the ceaseless trips to the clinic. To the bedside manner                                     summon this medic’s disdain toward patients              the physician’s dismissal                                     of pain— And call the druggist, again, to drug us senseless—   Bring a nomad              to index our debts             tuck      each invoice                 into broken walls   of regret—                    Call the cleric               the clerk             the messengers divine—