Hibah Shabkhez

Zip Code

You flow on, through zip code after zip code
Laughing at borders and fences, scowling
Only when they dam you. The winds erode
The land for more silt to calm your howling
Waves to a sweet murmur. Your mountain-born
Leaping, darting forms grow placid in plains
That broaden and flatten you like dough shorn
And sculpted on rolling boards, but your veins
Still hold the same 水. Shu, su, mizu: all
Have a common address, in script if not
In sound, in gently angled lines that fall
Softly into the sea.

Hibah Shabkhez is a writer and photographer from Lahore, Pakistan. Her work has previously appeared in Penine Platform, Rust and Moth, Think Journal, The Font, The Raven’s Muse Magazine, and a number of other literary magazines. Studying life, languages, and literature from a comparative perspective across linguistic and cultural boundaries holds a particular fascination for her.     Linktree: https://linktr.ee/HibahShabkhez   Twitter X: @hibahshabkhez   Insta: @shabkhez_hibah