Lakeer

Included in this issue

| Essay

| Fiction

| Poetry

| Poetry

| Fiction

| Essay

| Poetry

| Fiction

From the archives

Essay | Ports by Bassam Sidiki

A handsome attendant rolled me toward my uncle’s SUV. When I had settled into the passenger seat, he said with some emotion in his voice and some pity in his eyes, “Best of luck to you.”

Fiction | Unrest by Zuneera Shah

for it was foremostly her sadness, then her sister’s, then the two brothers’ and so on, for sadness had to be segmented then distributed then possessed—her spectators kept the first watch. It was only when Zeba finally looked up that the witnesses, sensing in this gesture an invitation, rushed towards her.

Interview | داستان گوئی : A Conversation with Hammad Rind by Bareerah Ghani

“So, when you go back to the early days of the novel, or even earlier, for example, the work by Boccaccio, Decameron, the ten stories which are being told by these feudal lords and ladies who are confined in a villa outside Florence because of the Black Death.”

Poetry | God Rides the Subway on Sundays by Eleen Raja

I always dreamed of being a home
like all poets for things
that we may never hear outside of water
Could a Tadpole define death?

Poetry | Origin Story by Javeria Hasnain

All origin stories contain indigeneity
& indigeneity eludes me.

Our people call each other muhajir.
(I am an immigrant in my own city.)

Poetry | کبھی دیکھا ہے ہم نے حُسنِ شاعری کو
by Farrukh Ali Hassan

کبھی دیکھا ہے ہم نے حُسنِ شاعری کو
کہ موجِ حالِ دسترس، الوداع عاجزی کو؟

وہ جو سکونِ قلبِ مطمئن ہے فضاؤں میں
ہے کون یاں جو توڑے اس وفائے شعاری کو

Upcoming event
لکیر کہانہیاں
Lakeer Kahaniyan

a free, virtual event of prose and poetry

Sunday, 22 December 2024
8pm Pakistan Time
Sign-up details at this link

Submissions for fiction, essays, and poetry
are now open.

December 1 – December 31

We publish work in languages spoken in Pakistan.
All guidelines can be found here.

chowk چوک

from SEPTEMBER 2024
Poetry
Zinfandel Grapes

by Hibah Shabkhez

from AUGUST 2024
Art
Imam-e-Har Zamaaan
by Balach Khan

from JUNE 2024
Essay
Language
by Amama Bashir

Translations of a poem into a different language by various writers

Urdu to English
ترے عشق کی انتہا چاہتا ہوں ۔ علامہ اقبال
notes and translations by Ayesha Waheed, Daniele Speziale, Zehra Khan, Fatima Malik and Muniba Mahmud

The artwork by "creature" shows two black rotary phones with white dials, one on each end of a horizontal banner, connected by a telephone cord. In the center of the cord are the words Trunk Call in white capital letters. There is a switchboard in the background.
artwork by creature

Shandana Minhas speaks to writers, artists, absurdists. listen to episodes here.

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