Haiku [call to prayer] by Almila Dükel

Black and white photo of men and women crossing a temple courtyard, the woman in a burka, the men's faces blurred with dots

Image: “Lahore #44” by Faizan Adil. The haiku was written by Almila Dükel for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, July 2024, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

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Almila Dükel

HAIKU

 
 
call to prayer
our faces hidden
from ourselves
 
 
 

from Ekphrastic Challenge
July 2024, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “Moving beyond simple description, the best ekphrastic poems expand on their source material, often by imagining new narratives or pointing out small details that alter our perception of the piece. This haiku does something more unusual. In hyper-focusing its few words on the overall theme, the poem acts like a lens directing all of the scene’s energy onto a single point so intensely that it feels like we just might ignite.”

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