Fareh Malik is a 26 year old Canadian author and poet who has been performing spoken word since 2012. He is an up-and-coming author with a story to tell. He has been published on the In Parentheses website previously, as well as by Muslim Hands Canada. These poems are socially-reflective, and tell an important and relatable story for those who feel the reverberations of social injustice in their bones.
My Brother Told Me the Privileged Wouldn’t Understand
My revolution was born
when I decided to arm myself to the teeth
with memories of injustice
and broken experiences
we roared stories of inequality
to ears- stitched shut
we let them drink from canteens
that we filled with our tears
for them, it was too salty to bear
Bystander
What a cowardly act
to be relentlessly by my side
unyielding
only on bright, beautiful days
but to leave as soon as the darkness
rears its familiar head-
you and my shadow have a lot in common
Chai
A white man called me that same tired word
‘terrorist’
(don’t worry, I’m used to it)
what was once an insult
has become a verbal tick in frustration
we were in line at the 7/11
and he had chai in his cup
when he leaned into spiced steam
nose first
he couldn’t even recognize my scent
Brown Skinned and Beautiful
Rest in peace to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and to the many more people of colour we have lost in this environment of racism, inequality and absolute injustice. We all deserve better.
We are the ones who look like the soil in your planters
and the gingerbread men you make on christmas
the ones who are the coffee beans-
your complex order from Starbucks
I am someone who was given
quicksand skin
an excuse for your harsh gaze
to sink in slow
I carry my mothers sweet, chocolate words
and my fathers soot soaked hours of labour
you made us the brick for your chimneys and the lumber
sacrificed for the fire-
the spices you came to my people for
blended together in mortar and pestle
concocted the melanin that
you wished you could taste
I am the one you raised a gun at
the one you said looked like a threat
this skin was the stage where your appreciation
became fear
from this I learned
no matter how nurturing the tree
people may still bring axes to your trunk
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From the Editor:
We hope that readers receive In Parentheses as a medium through which the evolution of human thought can be appreciated, nurtured and precipitated. It will present a dynamo of artistic expression, journalism, informal analysis of our daily world, entertainment of ideas considered lofty and criticism of today’s popular culture. The featured content does not follow any specific ideology except for that of intellectual expansion of the masses.
Founded in late 2011, In Parentheses prides itself upon analysis of the current condition of intelligence in the minds of these young people, and building a hypothesis for one looming question: what comes after Post-Modernism?
The idea for this magazine stems from a simple conversation regarding the aforementioned question, which drew out the need to identify our generation’s place in literary history.
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By In Parentheses in IP Volume 7
32 pages, published 1/15/2022
in parentheses 
This is beyond talent. You carry a gift!! Beautiful words.
Wow! Simply amazing! Such powerful words. Can I share this on Facebook? Thanks
Go for it! Please attribute the author and feel free to tag us. Thank you.