Us is a brand new selection of poems written by me throughout the months of July and August in 2023, in addition to a few revived poems, such as All Suicide and Do You Ever Just, which have previously appeared in anthologies such as Kashmiri Hair and Purple Ulcers, respectively. All previously published anthologies have been discontinued, and instead only a few selected poems have been chosen by me to be revived within this new selection. The second edition includes an additional, new, short story, entitled Brother.
I wrote Us after undergoing some personal turmoil, which is known well to what I might be able to say as the vast majority of people, which is heartbreak. This may occur due to unrequited love, unfaithfulness, or parting via mutual agreement. It is quite a heavy emotion, and sometimes may make us act out character; in this sense, it is interesting that there is an emotion so powerful as love that it may make us act in a way which may be unfitting to our personal dispositions. Nevertheless, writing is what I enjoy doing, and therefore I chose to channel my emotion into this new selection, which features new poems, such as The Man I Love and Two Continents.
In addition to the thirty-two poems selected in this anthology, I have also made the decision to revive three short stories, which include Mrs Judas, Mary of Meath, and Letters from Lahore. They have been heavily edited in order to fully encapsulate the short-story genre they inhabit, and therefore may appear to be written in a slightly different fashion than originally published. Consequently, I see no purpose in maintaining the publication of previous anthologies, as what I assume to be my favourite pieces, have been featured in this selection. Thus, the variety of previous publications now appear to be unfitting for continuous sale online.
Many of the poems feature the themes of love, heartbreak, and loss. However, other poems also feature the themes of mental health and longing. Therefore, there are a variety of themes to be found within this selection, and does not subscribe to any particular genre of poetry. With the short stories, the three are completely mutually exclusive and do not coincide with each other in any fashion, therefore may or may not be read when one pleases.
I wrote the vast array of pieces contained within this selection in Douglas in the Isle of Man, and edited the selection while in Bethnal Green in London, beginning my second year of university here. I may decide to eventually work on a full-fledged debut fiction novel, which may make its rounds within the realm of traditional publications, in which case Us may very well be my final attempt at an independent publication. I trust you might find this selection informative or entertaining, and I hope to see you again sometimes in the near future.
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Ammar Hammad Khan
Isle of Man, 29 December 2025
