1 Turtles and Turtlenecks
This poem is about meeting challenges with complacency. You dont find a real solution. Instead of addressing the loss, the character adopts a symbolic replacement that merely resembles a solution. Wearing a turtleneck closes the narrative gap; people can pretend the need the need the turtle was fulfilling is now fulfilled by the protagonist wearing turtle necks.
2 Don’t Compare Me to a Summer’s Day
This poem is a counterweight to idealised romance. By referencing the Shakespearean idealisation of love, then countering it with mundane social comparison I hope to spark reflection in the reader, without necessarily offering an attractive alternative in the picture painted.
3 The Sky is Verified Blue
Sometimes, people keep repeating a statement that has already been disproven. This poem is written from the perspective of someone further ahead in the realisation, who is frustrated with the ones still in denial.
4 Life of a Woman
This poem follows a pattern of everyday scenarios in which a woman’s actions are repeatedly questioned or reinterpreted. Each situation introduces a new layer of precaution, while the explanations offered around it continue to shift.
5 Straight Shooter
This poem plays with the voice of someone who insists they are simply “telling it like it is.” Through that voice, it explores how suspicion, certainty, and defensive thinking shape the way people interpret one another’s intentions.
Yasmin Sheikh-Mohamed Portfolios 