Conversations with Poets - Hibaq

Hibaq Hosain is a young business student and poet living in London.

At the age of 12, Hibaq won a ‘best author’ award when she wrote a children’s book about dolphins. From a young age, she always knew that writing was for her and that’s where her passion started.

“I started writing non-fiction books and using my imagination a lot then gradually, I started writing poems about anything and everything. I started getting better as I grew older and my poems started to have more meaning to them. I learned to enjoy them and saw a lot of poets out there in the real world and just aspired to inspire too.”

She aspires to be someone who creates an understanding with their audience and to bring the best out of others, especially the younger generation.

“I just want people to know that poetry can be fun, that they can do it without others thinking it’s just a girly thing.

“Poetry just comes to me and anything can trigger me to start writing, from having a deep conversation with someone to something I’m really passionate about.”

For years, Hibaq has been writing down poetry in a memo pad or jotting down ideas on her phone but only shared her poetry to close friends and family. Not many people actually knew she was a poet so she decided to start with creating a blog and sharing her poetry and thoughts on there.

Unlike other poets, it doesn’t take her too long to complete a poem. Some poets take months or even years to write something; however it only takes a few days for Hibaq to finish a poem.

“I normally create a title then expand on it and start writing a poem. It’s mainly just jotting down sentences on my memo pad.”

I asked her about the last time she performed her poetry to an audience and it was back in 2012 in front of many people in a community hall.

“At first I was saying it fast and I just wanted it over so I could sit back down but my friend in the audience mouthed “slow down” so I did. I got really hot and felt like I just wanted to leave. I hated how everyone had their eyes on me but gradually I calmed myself down and finished it smoothly. So overall it was a great experience and if I could do it again, I would.”

From Hibaq’s experience and other poets I’ve spoken to, it’s clear how much they love poetry and all share that passion but I’ve also noticed that they keep their poetry low key and have only performed to an audience once. It doesn’t mean that they are not confident or ready, but they want to prepare themselves, make their poetry better and grow. She is currently reading a book called “How to win friends and influence people” – which helps her gain self-development in business.

“My favourite feeling about writing is when you’ve completed a piece and you look back on it and read it like it’s the best piece you’ve ever written. The excitement of just sharing it with friends and family and hearing their responses really gives me a boost. It keeps me going.”

Hibaq’s main inspiration comes from Canadian Muslim poet Boona Mohammed, a poet who is very popular amongst the Muslim youth. “He is my main inspiration,” she said. “He is the reason why I first thought spoken word poetry was amazing and why I don’t just write ordinary poems. He is just phenomenal.”

So what’s next for Hibaq?

She is currently writing a spoken word poem called “Outside of marriage” which will be posted on her blog. She also has 2 recently published poems called “My daughter” and “Motherland”. You can read them here.

I asked Hibaq if she could share some of her poetry with me. Here are a few lines from her favourite piece “His love aint mine”:

Boy there’s something I gotta tell you..

Just had a conversation and there’s someone else that loves you.

At first I thought “woah this car is full.. My love is his and his love is mine, and I’ve been loving him just fine!!”

She said you’re not all that you think you are..

And I wasn’t asking for a room in the car..

I wanna be his everything. I am his everything!

I said “this is my territory you cannot take it, any bond you have with him, I will break it”…

She said you wouldn’t do that if you knew what he truly needed..

I said “I know what he needs, I’ll fulfill that role and I know all about him so thanks I’ve got it all under control..”

(You can read the rest of her poem here)

Are you happy with the state of the world today?

Honestly no, I doubt anyone is.

If you could change one thing, what would it be?

The greed of the world, most of the things happening now comes down to greed. Governments want more & Prime Ministers want more. Everyone just wants more and doing everything and anything to get it no matter how many innocent people get killed or how many homes are ruined.