Khan, Momina A

English

University of New Mexico

Intersections: Critical Issues in Education 
Volume 3 Issue 2 Article 7 
2019 
Poem: Wake up Wide 
Momina A. Khan 
University of Saskatchewan, mak234@usask.ca 
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Khan, Momina A.. "Poem: Wake up Wide." Intersections: Critical Issues in Education 3, 2 (2019). 
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/intersections/vol3/iss2/7 
This Studio is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for 
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Intersections: Critical Issues in Education 
2019, Vol. 3, No. 2, 134-137 
 
 
| STUDIO | 
 
 134 
 
Wake up Wide1 
 
Momina A. Khan 
University of Saskatchewan 
 
 
we are all sleepwalkers within us 
human (beings) a (kind) of (species)  
temporal // corporeal // bounded // blind 
eyes asleep, veiled vision  
do not naturally see 
must be taught how to see 
witness thyself 
in the throes of all truths 
how does the shadow dissipate?  
from our pursuit of light  
from the socket of muted darkness  
what lies in wandering to wonder?  
because sometimes  
the road leads through dark places 
because sometimes  
the darkness is our true comrade  
when // why // where did we stop?  
stargazing in exalted spaces 
sculpted by opposing climes  
paradox // puzzle // contradiction  
where inquiry // encounters // discovery dwells 
why can’t we see what’s round the bend? 
yes, we have a hunger for certitude 
we want // we do // what we can  
 
 
1 This found poem emerged from rigorous readings of texts on spirituality, education, and art. My 
practice of found poetry is an attempt to revise and repair the euthanized aspects of the past to make the 
present more meaningful. The freedom to remix, rearrange, and mesh the words and phrases read, heard, 
and overheard instills in me a sense of self-suspension from the black-and-white text to many shades of 
grey. This translucent mirroring of the renewed expansion of self with vocabularies I do not own 
comforts me, and I find myself in the found poems that I recreate.    
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education  
2019, Vol. 3, No. 2 
 
 
 135 
 
to immediately transpose  
fidelity into certitude  
because fidelity is relational // variable  
& certitude is a flat // settled  
a mechanical // orderly category 
we must acknowledge  
our thirst for prediction  
immersed in self-fulfilling prophecies 
control, authority, license, expertise   
if we had all the certitudes in the world  
would it make the quality of our lives any better?  
would it make all our problems go away?  
this quest for mental certitude  
itself a problem spawning 
more peril than promise 
what we must have is fidelity 
loyalty, dependability, reliability 
step on the familiar step into the threatening 
verisimilitude in all things 
to heal, reconcile, & restore 
recognize // ponder // aspire// 
kindred spirit that i am still sorting out 
emotive, being present, staying alive 
a divine coping ritual 
to save life 
we must lose it 
to thrive in the new world 
we must dissolve our old bodies 
letting go is the only path 
this urge to escape 
the confines of certainty 
cemented walls // skyscrapers 
tiny // trapped existences // essences 
the densities of dominance, power, control 
fractured // manufactured minds 
competing // conflicting impulses 
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education  
2019, Vol. 3, No. 2 
 
 136
 
collision of life 
moving in(to) light 
i, a manuscript of a divine letter 
desired // required connectedness 
to earth // water // wind // fire// trees 
sound of sky // sunshine // stars //moonlight 
nature whispers to me 
the immortal secrets 
of how to live long // deep // hard 
gather in together  
an expanded version of myself 
leaning into my absent eyes 
to connect the dots 
of our destiny // humanity // being 
healing // redeeming // gathering 
my creaturely existence 
from the sleaze of being 
i hear myself 
wake up wide 
solemn night 
ah, 
a shooting star 
i see the light 
wide-awake 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education  
2019, Vol. 3, No. 2 
 
 
 137 
References 
 
Cockburn, B. (1995). Pacing the cage. On The charity of night. [CD] Golden Mountain Music  
  Corporation. BMI.  
 
Prevette, B, White, K.J., Ewell, C.R., Konz, D.J. (Eds.) (2014). Theology, Mission and Child:  
  Global Perspectives. Wipf and Stock.  
 
Rohr, R. (2003). Everything belongs: The gift of contemplative prayer. Crossroads.  
 
Wheatley, M. (1999). Consumed by either fire or fire: Journeying with T. S. Eliot. Journal of  
  Noetic Science. (November 1999) 
 
 
 
 
Author 
   
Momina A. Khan received her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Saskatchewan in 
2018. In life and scholarship, as a mother and woman of color, she engages in constructing 
counter-stories through interweaving narrative and poetry. Her work invites schools and 
educators to become leaders in eradicating barriers to racialized students’ sense of self, sense of 
hybridity, sense of belonging, and sense of citizenhood. She strives to re-conceptualize the 
dominant aspects of mandated curriculum by decentering the Eurocentric perspective, 
knowledge and content. She challenges curriculum makers, educators and teachers that there 
are alternative perspectives of knowing worthy of inclusion. Her poetry acknowledges the 
exalted space sculpted by the opposing poles of paradox, puzzle, and contradiction where 
encounters, and newness dwells. 
 
 


Poem: Wake up Wide

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