Rayan Khan
No, the moon has never been vampiric and noxious in the way it exerts its
influence over the tides and the mad men in their white cages, no, the night has
never been safe and if anything the night is even more dangerous now that there
are so many more people and all the markets are saturated, and no, the dream of
reason no longer produces monsters but thralls, no, the most dangerous thing in
this world for those who seek to preach the good, mystic word (and no, that
word has always been bad, bad for civil society, bad for governments, bad for the
apathetic and shriven) is the mind-slave; no, the most dangerous thing in this
world is still the man, the European, the Epicurean, it’s the guy with the pink
cheeks and baleful eyes that are like augurs, like apartheid, like the first
gathering embers in a dragon’s maw before the fire blossoms out; no, you cannot
take the author out of their work and how many of you have tried this and tried
again only to arrive at the same, abysmal conclusion, that maybe, just maybe, you
should have done something else, should have chased the moon, should have
scattered your parts for Isis to find them and bind them back to some semblance
of coherence; no, too many scientists will remain materialists and this will
prevent them from hearing the spirit when it comes knocking; no, the finest
material was Muslin and it used to slip between the fingers before it slipped out
of history, and one day it will return to catch those who pillaged it and around
their wrists will it tie itself so deftly, so softly, that they’ll smile through their
incarceration, order the butter chicken and call it a day; no, the Koh-i-Noor
Diamond is ours, give it back; no, nature is progressive and you can’t stop it from
being good for you, for being good for everything and everybody; no, the spirit is
matter—at its highest level.
Rayan Khan works in digital marketing and writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. His works have appeared in several publications, including The Aleph Review and Vallum Magazine (issue 9:1) – to name a few. Rayan holds a Masters in English Literature from McGill University and because he is a glutton for punishment, will soon be pursuing a PHD at whatever institution is deranged enough to accept him. He lives in Montreal with his plants.
About the featured artist: Unver Shafi, born in 1961 in Karachi, Pakistan, and living and working there, set up his studio in his hometown after returning from Kenyon College, USA, with a BA in English Literature. His first solo show was at the iconic Ali Imam’s famous gallery, Indus, in 1986 and at the moment he is not interested in exhibiting at all.