issue 1
Koukash Review
2022
painted lady
Lyla Saab
if i had known it would flit off
like that i’d’ve rested
my eyes on it a little longer
but i didn’t know
and didn’t look long enough
no, i reached for my phone
in an attempt to render
68 billion of its pigments
inside a net of pixels
a jar without holes
my friend
where we were going
there is no need to breathe
but you were headed
somewhere else
iridescent red-orange empress
or is it orange-red?
bright enough to carry poison
landing at my feet
with the quietest
of orchestral swells
each spotted wing
burning phosphenes
in my mind’s eye
a two-second touch
all fire and no ash
it left and i couldn’t tell you
when or how
it was just there
and then it wasn’t
Lyla Saab
Lyla Saab was born and raised in Queens, New York to Lebanese immigrants. Over the past decade, she has transcribed oral histories in a genocide library, taught creative writing in a city jail, and wrote ads for TV. Now, she writes what she likes.