For A Combination Of Reasons, And Despite

Growing Up In Pakistan In The 1980s, I Lived In The Shadow Of A Tyrannical State.

There's A Reason Prophets Perform Miracles; Language Lacks The Power To Describe Faith.

Pakistan Hasn't Been Cast In The Role Of... Interesting Cultural Place Or, You Know, Land Of Great Comedians.

If An American Teenager Were To Come To Lahore, They'd Have Wildly Different Experiences Depending On Whom They Met. They Could Party And Get Drunk And Smoke Hashish With Some, While Others Would Say, "let's Get Some Religious Instruction."

I Push Against The Tree And Run Away, Stumbling, The Unreal Night Playing With Me, Gravity Pulling From Below, Behind, Above, Making Me Fall. And I Run Through A World That Is Rotating, Conscious Of The Earth's Spin, Of Our Planet Twirling As It Careens Through Nothingness, Of The Stars Spiraling Above, Of The Uncertainty Of Everything, Even Ground, Even Sky. Mumtaz Never Calls Out, Although A Thousand And One Voices Scream In My Mind, Sing, Whisper, Taunt Me With Madness.