1961, construction began———the Architect drawing a dream———in poured concrete. A substantial challenge———to give lodging to Democracy———to give form to the State when she is still forming———coagulating from Partition and Injustice———nebulous, indeterminate. 1971, the people demanded Revolution———Independence and Liberation, lofty ideals———petrified
Architect granted Absolution by his own demise. 3000 Moons later———completed posthumously———they say his ghost haunts the Rotunda———whispers to Members of Parliament———Spirit & Science———Spirit & Science———Spirit & Science—conjecturing whether he got it right———the precise Configuration of Arches to Atriums———Courts to Porticoes———Aperture to Volume. It’s true———he had not envisioned the serene lake as Moat———the heftas Fortress———the Machine Gun Military Men patrolling its walls———the questionable use of that teal carpet———let alone, the Dictator———to whom his specter gesticulates wildly———something about civic duty———having lost his voice.
Author: Nafisa A. Iqbal
Nafisa A. Iqbal (she/they) is a Bangladeshi writer holding an MFA from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Felipe P. De Alba fellowship. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Passages North, Fiddlehead, The Rumpus, AAWW's The Margins, and Fourth Genre among many others. In 2024, they were the finalist for the Waasnode Prize and won the Lascaux Prize in Poetry. Her poems have been nominated for Best New Poets 2024 and 2025. Their work was listed as a Notable Essay of 2024 in the Best American Essays 2025 anthology.