Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Karen Edmisten HERE. Thank you for hosting!
I just came home from browsing in the poetry section of our local bookstore. I wanted to discover a poet I didn’t know, and I did. I brought home IF THEY COME FOR US, by Fatimah Asghar. She is a Pakistani Muslim living in America.
From the book jacket: “Asghar seamlessly braids together marginalized people’s histories with her own understanding of Identity, place, and belonging.”
Her poems deal with living in a country where she feels hated and endangered. The poem below begins by mentioning the Taliban and I, for one, am beginning to understand viscerally the kind of vulnerability that inspired this poem. Especially after losing so many children lately.
Her entire poem “For Peshawar” can be found HERE. Here are a few stanzas:
EXERPT FROM "FOR PESHAWAR" December 16, 2014 by Fatimah Asghar Before attacking school in Pakistan, the Taliban sends kaftan, a white cloth that marks Muslim burials, as a form of psychological terror. In my dreams, the children are still alive at school. In my dreams they still play. I wish them a mundane life. Arguments with parents. Goundings. Chasing a budding love around the playground. Iced Mango slices in hot summer. Lassi dripping from lips. Fear of being unmarried. Hatred of family next door. Kheer at graduation. Fingers licked with mehndi. Blisters on the back of a heel.
Mendhi are henna tattoos that I know are popular in India. Kheer is the name in India for Rice Pudding. We want similar pleasures for all children. The language in this poem reflects a different culture but like all people, we have more in common than different.
I wrote this today, inspired by Asghar’s poem.
AN ORDINARY LIFE (Inspired by "For Peshawar" by Fatima Asghar) I wish all children to live long enough, to know they are part of something bigger. I wish them ice cream on a summer night, friends to love always, the hurt of breaking up, good health and what it feels like to grow as tall as parents. to see your mother's face in the mirror, or your father's, and be glad for it. © Janice Scully (draft) 2022 .
Thank you, Karen for hosting! I hope all teachers and librarians have an especially joyful summer.
Janice