Two Poems by Zia Marshall

 

Mothering 

 

Like freshly squeezed orange juice 

Sweet stickiness trickling down throats 

While the squeezed orange carelessly discarded  

In the bin 

Moans the loss of  

Its essence 

Its pulp 

Its nectar 

Isn't mothering like that as well? 

 

And you, with your tiny hands 

Grab the juice hastily 

Tossing it down carelessly 

In a single gulp 

Mindless of the fingers blistered 

In squeezing, extracting, flavouring 

Isn't mothering like that as well? 

 

And meanwhile, the carelessly tossed rind 

Rolls into the bin 

Settling against the paper cups 

And empty chip wrappers 

Its hidden seeds already dreaming 

Of sunlight, of rich soil 

Of becoming tree, of becoming fruit 

Isn’t life like that as well? 

 

 

 

Fangs and Softness 

 

I cling to my softness 

Tenaciously  

In a world 

Determined 

To rip it out of me 

Turn softness into fangs 

But I stand firm 

In my silence 

Wildfires will not provoke me 

Into trading in my warmth, 

To become a fang-hearted person. 

For the world is sombrely draped 

In a heavy blanket of fierce fangs, 

But softness remains 

A rare jewel 

A faint hope clinging 

To shores of peace 

In the encroaching darkness 

That threatens to envelop this world

Zia Marshall holds a doctorate in English Literature and worked as a Learning Designer and Communication Specialist. After years of designing e-learning course material for personal and professional growth, she shifted her focus to creative writing. Her poetry collections, From Breaking to Blooming (2023) and Petals in the Breeze (2024) explore themes of healing and resilience. Her work, inspired by both nature and human nature, captures the light and darkness of life with honesty and grace. Awarded a Certificate of Excellence in the Asian Literary Society’s Wordsmith Award (2020), 8th place in the Rabindranath Tagore Award International (2024) and Poet of the Year at the Kolkata Literary Carnival by Ukiyoto (2025), her short stories and poems have found homes in several literary journals and anthologies. including Contemporary Literary Review of India, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Auroras and Blossoms, Scarlet Leaf Review, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Muse India, Metverse Muse and Spillwords.  

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ziamarshallwork