Foreigner

Poetry

I'm Kashmiri. 

I understand the language but don't speak it 
Which sometimes makes me feel like a fraud. 

But when I visit Kashmir 
There's this warm feeling inside my chest 
That blossoms slowly, like my smile 
It takes time to form. 

It's a different feeling from home home,
My house in America,
Which is also beautiful.

Because this feeling's unique.

When I'm in Kashmir,
I feel loved.
Nobody is banging red, white and blue drums at me 
On the way to the mosque
And telling me to go back to my country.
And pretty much everyone I see on the street
Looks just like me.

I look like them.
I eat the food.
I love the food!
But I avoid conversation.

I feel like a kind of observer.

But that's fine.

For me,
Kashmir will always be
A place to remind me of where I come from
And that there are people that love me.
And that makes me feel just about as Kashmiri
As I actually am.

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Kaddish

Poetry

I never paid attention when I went to Jewish school, and I never once sat through services 

And yet I know the sound, like a heartbeat in grey 

 

Yeetgahdahl v’yeetkahdahsh Sh’mayh rahbah 

Exalted and hallowed be His great Name 

 

The mourner says in a complete, perfect monotone

Kaddish, the prayer said for the year following the death of a loved one

 

And I, haunted, reply on cue, not out of respect but instinct

 

Amen

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Crossing Familiar Waters

Painting

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This was a painting project I did for the No Kings event on March 28th, 2026. It is based on the famous Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, but with modern-day advocates replacing the soldiers on the boat. Here’s (in order from left to right) why I chose these particular people:

Bernie Sanders has been constantly calling out oligarchy and explaining the danger of it to citizens. He has been encouraging people to get information, has provided countless opportunities for youth to get involved in government and has written multiple books teaching us to stand up to things that seem wrong.

Bad Bunny, the Grammy award winning artist, has pushed through all of the hate he’s gotten throughout the past year. “Together, we are America” was his final message at the Super Bowl Halftime Show of 2026, which sent a message of hope and unity across the nation.

Becca Balint has been constantly opposing higher government power. She has posted on social media, giving updates and making sure we know that she’s here for us. She has been speaking out and has been using her government position for good.

Zohran Mamdani is the newly elected mayor of New York City. He, a democratic socialist, was able to get along with President Trump, something virtually no democrat has ever been able to do (faulting neither party, for that matter). Mamdani has been making a difference in New York in numerous ways and has stayed engaged with the people of NYC, especially with children by launching his free childcare program for toddlers.

Stephen Colbert made the headlines recently when CBS cancelled his show for financial reasons, officially. However, much of the public doubts that thats true, especially since CBS’s parent company, Paramount, recently bid to buy Warner Brothers. Much of the public thinks he was cancelled because he criticized Paramount for making a deal with President Trump on air. Colbert has continued to criticize his network when they refused to air an interview with James Talarico who was running for Senate in Texas because of a law that wasn’t even in place for late night TV anymore. Colbert responded with airing the interview on the Late Show YouTube page. Colbert has also been auctioning off his memorabilia from the show and giving  the proceeds to charity. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past few months.

Bruce Springsteen has been advocating for hope and freedom for a bit of time now. Right now he is doing his Land of Hope and Dreams American tour. He has also released a song titled Streets of Minneapolis, which was in protest of the ICE agents in Minnesota. He pays tribute to fallen Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti and calls for “ICE out now!”

Historian Heather Cox Richardson has been explaining the impact of the events in the news through social media. She is a constant reminder that facism is only a step away and that we need to do whatever we can to prevent that.

Don Lemon is an independent journalist who was recently arrested for covering a protest of ICE which led to the protesters (and Lemon) going into a church. When he was released, he was all over the news. He has advocated for journalists and freedom of speech. He likes to talk to people on the ground and be a reliable news source from where the news is happening.

Pop sensation Taylor Swift has constantly been advocating for equality for several years now. She is known to be a very nice person, especially towards her fans. She has immense influence as her fans are avid and many, meaning she can really make a difference with her messages.

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the US, whether you like him or not, is a cool guy. He instated the Affordable Care Act, has supported equality, and created a sense of calm when things have looked bad. He is self-deprecating and really a decent human being. Even though he’s gotten hate, he’s pushed through it and hasn’t taken it seriously, which is something few can do.

Jimmy Kimmel has also been threatened and almost taken down by the FCC recently over his comments about the person who murdered Charlie Kirk. He was taken off air for about a week, but after over a million Disney + cancellations he was reinstated. He hasn’t stopped his criticism of the government, openly using his freedom of speech. He has a very close-knit group of people working on his show, including his sidekick Guillermo, who started off as a security guard. Guillermo now has his own salsa brand. Kimmel has also been openly emotional on TV, as shown recently, specifically when his best friend and bandleader Cleto Escobedo III passed in November.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is the writer and star of the hit hip-hop musical Hamilton. Hamilton, as most theatre enthusiasts know, is the tale of how America grew from the American Revolution. Hamilton grew into a phenomenon and it teaches how America’s government was formed, with some creative liberties, of course. Outside of his historical storytelling, Lin has advocated for justice, specifically The People’s Filibuster, which was held January 31st in New York.

I consider all of these people to be heroes. They have my utmost respect and I would like to thank them for what they’ve done for me and the rest of us.

National Protest

To Spill Words from a Bruise

Poetry

I’m learning that one letter

Can make all the difference;

One letter, or

The lack thereof

Could burn down a dream or

Allow it to flourish;

Imagine what a word

Could do;

What a sentence

Could do, or

A paragraph or an essay or

A collection of them, much like

We call our constitution;

Imagine what one keystroke

Could do, or

The uniting of a million hands as we

Together grip the same pen;

If we could find it in us to

All consider our letters as they

Flow as blood from our hearts

To a page, we

Could write something willing

To be speckled with seeds;

 

As we learned from the Genesis story, all

It takes is the word; the word

Will become flesh, and the word

will grow into us;

 

Farmers used to burn down forests

So they could plant new life;

            Quite literally, they

            Encouraged the rising from ashes;

The earth was sprouted from the hand

Of the universe, and

The darkness we blossomed from is

What one could call

                                       Ash-like and bruised.

Bruises heal, but

In their healing they dance like a bird

Through a rainbow, twirling

Through the fading of colors; they

Show progress, and yet

The color never leaks

From by which it is bound; if

It is our words the blood

Of this nation is built from, perhaps

It should not be kept inside, concealed

By the shades of its progress, never spilling

Onto paper;

It should be echoed by a hand and

All the hands that join it

Upon a page;

 

If we were to poke the bruises

Of our fallen ideals that lay

Well-intentioned but haphazard

Upon tattered pages, not burned but

       Ready to sprout new life,

With the sharpened tip

Of a pencil, we could spill all

The letters we must come to realize

Will make a difference;

 

Imagine what a single word

Could do if

We all put our hands together

And wrote it 

Into something living and

Full of the letters that bleed

From our hearts;

 

Imagine.

 

I'm sorry this is so long, there were a lot of ideas I wanted to fit in here and I got a little greedy with how many connections and metaphors I wanted to use.  If you stuck it out, thank you so much for reading! :)

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