{"id":13282,"date":"2026-08-28T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13282"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:55:40","slug":"2-poems-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13282","title":{"rendered":"2 poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ya Shaykh<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heaven<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hough End Fields, Manchester, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n

here, every blade of grass,
every bluetit and blackbird,
grasshopper and tiny ant,
the creeping thistle in summer<\/p>\n

the gorse bush and the hairy willowherb,
fireweed and curled wood;
the corn chamomile, the calming tea,
the hailed herb chicory<\/p>\n

all are in constant dhikr
the whispers will un-hush themselves.
look to the planes of earth
that have manifested this way<\/p>\n

i can no longer resent
the way God made me
heaven will be this undisturbed space:
this patch of green<\/p>\n

this left-alone mess,
of foliage and weeds
this uncovered earth\u2014
damp, unbearable, breathtaking\u2014has saved me<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

____<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maryam Alsaeid is a poet with an MA in Creative Writing, tutored by Carol Ann Duffy and Andrew McMillan, and mentored by Julia Webb. Published in Poetry Ireland, The Phare, Eche and others, she designs workshops using poetry for healing and is writing a collection of poems inspired by Arabic songs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood   Ya Shaykh       \u00a0 Heaven   Hough End Fields, Manchester, 2020 here, every blade of grass,every bluetit and blackbird,grasshopper and tiny ant,the creeping thistle in summer the gorse bush and the hairy willowherb,fireweed and curled wood;the corn chamomile, the calming tea,the hailed herb chicory all are in constant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":438,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[376,441,443],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n2 poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13282\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 poems - 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