Originally published in Poetry (March, 2017). The speaker of these poems appears at once old and incredibly new, a dichotomy that is upheld as the narrative jumps from past to present and all over the last century. Violence. Moments like this appear frequently throughout the anthology, wherein Asghar notes how the atrocities of her familys past trickle into her present identity. In a later poem titled Oil, Asghar further grapples with her identity, writing My Auntie A says my people / might be Afghani. watching my beloveds through Facetime the tens of tens of apps downloaded so I can hear the scattered voices of everyone I love & the silence of my apartment building so loud my whole world . scraped wrists & steady poundinghis eyes wide, untilhe stopped making a sound. Poets in the diaspora have mined the relationship between the violent remapping of the subcontinent with the instability of South Asian identity, language, and citizenship in their work. [9] Her parents immigrated to the United States. How would / you have taught me to be a woman? Thank you for your support. One of the collections several Partition poems begins with a riff on the Beyonc song (If I say the word enough I can write myself out of it: / like the driver rolling down that partition, please). from the soil. But with this understanding, Asghars compact yet clear prose also reminds audiences that, although pain exists in our world, we must reckon with our role in creating a more just community. these are my people & I findthem on the street & shadowthrough any wild all wildmy people my peoplea dance of strangers in my bloodthe old womans sari dissolving to windbindi a new moon on her foreheadI claim her my kin & sewthe star of her to my breastthe toddler dangling from strollerhair a fountain of dandelion seedat the bakery I claim them toothe Sikh uncle at the airportwho apologizes for the patdown the Muslim man who abandonshis car at the traffic light dropsto his knees at the call of the Azan& the Muslim man who drinksgood whiskey at the start of maghribthe lone khala at the parkpairing her kurta with crocsmy people my people I cant be lostwhen I see you my compassis brown & gold & bloodmy compass a Muslim teenagersnapback & high-tops gracingthe subway platformMashallah I claim them allmy country is madein my peoples imageif they come for you theycome for me too in the deadof winter a flock ofaunties step out on the sandtheir dupattas turn to oceana colony of uncles grind their palms& a thousand jasmines bell the airmy people I follow you like constellationswe hear glass smashing the street& the nights opening darkour names this countrys woodfor the fire my people my peoplethe long years weve survived the longyears yet to come I see you mapmy sky the light your lantern longahead & I follow I follow. His "coven" of children the eldest, Noreen, followed by Kausar and Aisha is plummeted into orphanhood and watches his funeral on VHS. In America, the place that is ostensibly home, the speaker faces that rejection both in her family life and in society at large. The muse in literature is a source of inspiration for the writer. "[16], Brown Girls received an Emmy nomination in 2017 in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category. Her work often celebrates her heritage, gender, and sexuality. The partition of If They Come For Us memorializes the violence of borders by refusing the limits of the word partition itself. You know its true & try to help, but what can you do?You, little Fatimah, who still worships him? it makes of my mouth. Learn about the charties we donate to. As a poet, Asghars work is deeply tied to collectivity and community. It is a deliberate rejection of a colonial logic, but its not always a successful gesture. But twist she does, and by doing so, opens herself to everything, from painful truths to the kindness of strangers. She writes of her heritage, All the people I could be are dangerous. The speaker, whose parents have passed away, learns of her heritage from her relatives, who are not-blood but could be, further muddying notions of home, or where she truly belongsoften, this results in the idea that she doesnt truly belong anywhere. The poem begins with the 2014 terrorist attack on The Army Public School in Peshawar, forcing Ashghar to question whether we are meant to lower [our babies] into the ground / from the moment they are born. Asghars tone is pensive as she grapples with the notion of something as brutal and wrongful as death proximate to young individuals who have yet to understand what it means to be threatened. "When your people have gone through such historical violence, you cannot shake it. It always feels so authentic! Readers are also given a glimpse into the frequency of these occurrences via the text of the middle square, which reads: Dont Leave Your House For A Day Safe. In the same vein, the poem Oil walks the reader through the speakers experience as a young Pakistani Muslim woman in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. what do I do with the boywho snuck his way insideme on my childhood playground? Im a silent girl, a rig ready to blow. Danez and Franny hop on the ole zoom zoom with legendary poet and beard icon John Murillo. In her poem "Super Orphan," Asghar once again explores the impact of their absence. Read More on our Privacy Policy page. [15], "Often, our friends joke that we are each others life partners, or 'real wifeys.'" John talks about his new book Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry, learning how to focus Pat Frazier is the National Youth Poet Laureate of these here United States, and alone. The novel follows the coming of age of three sisters who are orphaned following the sudden murder of their father. With this poem, readers are immersed in a personal account of the day-to-day experiences of Asghar as she searches for acceptance in America and routinely faces threats and insecurity. Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective[3] and a Kundiman Fellow. | Only the air was heavy and moist, like the breath of an enormous, mysterious beast. Danez, Franny, and Safia talk unraveling shame, opening the door to a queer Muslim literary community, caesuras and Its Toaster Time! She is also the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated Brown Girls, a web series that highlights friendships between women of color. ISSN 2577-9427.NOTE: Advertisements and sponsorships contribute to hosting costs. Fatimah Asghar's poem, "If They Should Come for Us" is the title poem of the poet's debut full-length collection, If They Come for Us, published by One World/Random House in 2018. Fatimah Asghar these are my people & I find them on the street & shadow through any wild all wild my people my people a dance of strangers in my blood the old woman's sari dissolving to wind bindi a new moon on her forehead I claim her my kin & sew the star of her to my breast the toddler dangling from stroller hair a fountain of dandelion seed I read and reread the vague words, searching for a more robust explanation, personal accounts, or primary documents, but ultimately concluded that the India-Pakistan divide was only as significant as the condensed 300-word synopsis made it out to be. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier and Good Fossil Fuels, Two scholars exchange letters on poetry and climate. With this poem, readers are immersed in a personal account of the day-to-day experiences of Asghar as she searches for acceptance in America and routinely faces threats and insecurity. Asghar's identity as an orphan is a major theme in her work, her poem "How'd Your Parents Die Again?" Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and a Kundiman Fellow. This page is not available in other languages. Copyright 2017 by Fatimah Asghar. & my boy, my lovely boyhe clawed & bit & cried just likewe were back on the dirt playground. Fatimah Asghar is the author of the full-length collection If They Come For Us (Random House, 2018) and the chapbook After (YesYes Books, 2015). And yet, even when were told some of these memories and experiences are not the the speakers, they still are, somehow. , is one of being gripped by the shoulders and shaken awake; of having your eyelids pinned open and unable to blink. Mercedes Zapata. like your little cousin who pops gum & wears bras now: a stranger. Again? An East Asian nematode is threatening the European eel population, Poems, correspondence, essays, and reportage on how we perceive and write about climate change, How we perceive and write about climate change, Katrina Bellos exquisite drawings of the vast and the miniscule in nature, Climate change and development threaten the indigenous fisherfolk communities of Mumbai. As though I told you how the first time. But, as Rebecca Solnit writes,blood is what mixes things up. Its defining quality is that it circulates. She writes of her heritage, All the people I could be are dangerous. The speaker, whose parents have passed away, learns of her heritage from her relatives, who are not-blood but could be, further muddying notions of home, or where she truly belongsoften, this results in the idea that she doesnt. the day other kids shovedmy body into dirt & christened mehe appeared, boy, wicked, feral, swallowing my stride.the boy who grows my beard& slaps my face when I wax, my mustache. Fatimah Asghar Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. Neither human sympathy nor natures bounty can fill the void left by her parents early deaths; the ferocious melancholy of that single-word refrain circles their absence as if to say: There is no escaping a loss this large only endurance. I yelled to my sister knapsacks ringing against our backs. Freedom Bar Asnia Asim 71. The speakers feeling of un-belonging continues even at home, as she comes of age without the guidance of a mother and father. Fatimah Asghar, writer and filmmaker Naomi Joshi Writer, artist, and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar refuses to be defined by genre. I went to India once, to find myself.. A collection of poems, prose, and audio and video recordings that explore Islamic culture. Anneanne Tells Me Beyza Ozer 67. Simply and profoundly, her book is a love poem for Muslim girls, Queens, and immigrants making sense of their foreign home--and surviving." The forced migration of over 14 million peopleof Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to Indiatore both families and land apart. Back of the throatto teeth. The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. Just my body & all its oil," she writes near the end of the poem, summing up her alienation from a body brutally marked by race and war. The anthology opens with a striking poem titled For Peshawar, dated December 16th, 2014. In Asghar's latest collection of poetry, If They Come for Us, the speaker explores her identity as a marginalized orphan in a world that consistently tells her that she does not belong. In Microaggression Bingo, her words, much like her personal and cultural identities, are carefully divided and fitted in the structured tiles of a bingo board, with the central free space square reading Dont Leave Your House For A Day - Safe. The surrounding tiles are filled with chilling statements and memories such as Casting Call to audition for a battered Hijabi Woman and Editor recommends you add more white people to your story to be more relatable. The poem illustrates the limited space and movements the speaker is able to take as a Pakistani-Muslim subject to microaggressions in America, a land that pledges to be rooted in diversity. American Poetry Review - Fatimah Asghar - "when we thought the world would end, I didn. Fatimah Asghar redefines poetry in her full-length debut collection, If They Come for Us, which interweaves free verse and innovative forms as she explores what it means to be orphan, to be immigrant, to be human. Zhang pointed to the lose-lose situation writers of color face: Pander to the white literary establishment by exploiting trauma for publication, or risk being ignored and silenced. I collect words where I find them. The death impacts a trio of siblings at the . to a pink useless pulp. Yasmin Adele Majeed is the editorial coordinator for the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Southern Indiana Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Shenandoah, The Pinch, and elsewhere. But, through these inheritances, there is also care and comfort, sweetness and love, that provide structure to our identities, bodies, and imaginations: For the fire my people my people / the long years weve survived the long / years yet to come I see you map / my sky the light your lantern long / ahead & I follow I follow., The Nassau Literary Review5534 Frist CenterPrinceton, NJ 08544. An orphan grapples with gender, siblinghood, family, and coming-of-age as a Muslim in America in this lyrical debut novel from the acclaimed author of If They Come For Us In this heartrending, lyrical debut work of fiction, Fatimah Asghar traces the intense bond of three orphaned siblings who, after their parents die, are left to raise one another. How has climate change changed the way we write poetry? Request Permissions. Kalmeans I wake to her strange voice. Main Na Bhoolunga. Is it the physical ground that separates, or the people, whose homes, languages, and rituals are woven into the land? In high school, I briefly learned about this partition from a twenty-minute lecture complemented by a single paragraph in my World History textbook. Oil serves as the flimsy motivation for the invasion of Iraq, and also a stand-in for everything Asghar has lost as an orphan and as a brown girl during the War on Terror. by pathmark. III Hajj. A collection of poets and articles exploring Asian American culture. Raye Hendrix is a poet from Alabama who loves cats, crystals, and classic rock. The cultural memory is lodged in the speaker like a knifeone that she may not be able to remove, but one that she could choose not to twist. I have no blood. Rehman offers a new kind of fairy tale, surreal yet rooted in harsh, ugly modern realities. Kal. In Asghar's work, Partition becomes the wound that wounds all wounds. Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and a Kundiman Fellow. "Oil" serves as the flimsy motivation for the invasion of Iraq, and also a stand-in for everything Asghar has lost as an orphan and as a brown girl during the War on Terror. Give me my mother for no, other reason than I deserve her.If yesterday & tomorrow are the samepluck the flower of my mothers body. Poem Solutions Limited International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry, straight to your inbox. Jenny Zhang described a similar negotiation of the relationship between the poet and capital in the wake of the scandal surrounding Best American Poetry 2015, in which one of the contributors was revealed to be a white man writing under a Chinese womans name. With uniquely crafted poems which take the form of floor plans, bingo boards, and crossword puzzles, she shows her audience what it feels like to be constantly told that you dont belongwhat it means to feel threatened, yet confidentin a world torn apart by marginalization. However, the paragraph failed to address the bloody legacy of the great dividethe violence entrenched within the border, the millions of Hindus and Muslims who trekked in opposite directions, and those who were unsure of which land they belonged to. again, his legs slammingconcrete, my chest heavingwhen we ran from cops, the night they busted the river partyagain when I smashed the jellyfishinto the sand & grinded it down. The basic rules for writing a ghazal seem straightforward five to 15 couplets, one word repeated at the end of each stanza but transporting this seventh-century Arabian form into a 21st-century American lyric is no mean trick. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Co-creator and writer for the Emmy-nominated webseries Brown Girls, their work has appeared in Poetry,[1] Gulf Coast, BuzzFeed Reader, The Margins, The Offing, Academy of American Poets,[2] and other publications. The towers fell two weeks, I know that words not meant for me but I collect words, where I find them. Even now, you dont get it. Blood versus oil, the girl she knows herself to be versus the political self, victimized by the state. The Woman in the White Chador Farnaz Fatemi 61. is a navigation of home and family, religion and sexuality, history and love. Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a South-Asian American Muslim writer, Poems of Muslim Faith and Islamic Culture, VS Live with Fatimah Asghar, Jos Olivarez, and Paul Tran. . Shes also this weeks guest. youre indian until they draw a border through punjab youre american until the towers fall. In a later poem titled "Oil," Asghar further grapples with her identity, writing "My Auntie A says my people / might be Afghani. Orphaned as a girl, Fatimah Asghar grapples with coming of age and navigating questions of sexuality and race without the guidance of a mother or father. In her poem "For Peshawar," Fatimah Asghar writes, "Every year I manage to live on this earth / I collect more questions than I do answers." The questions her poems ask are painful, but necessary: "How do you kill someone who isn't afraid of dying?" "Are all refugees superheroes?" "Do all survivors carry villain inside them?" For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions stranger. Fatimah Asghar's brilliant offering is a dexterous blend of Old World endurance and New World bravado. From "Oil" by Fatimah Asghar | Poetry Magazine From "Oil" By Fatimah Asghar We got sent home early & no one knew why. "I felt a palpable difference. It is a wonder that anything was left of the road. When Rivka reached out to me to do a profile on Fatimah Asghar, I could not have been more excited to interview someone whose work has affected me so much personally. But as important as those revelations and experiences are, the feeling Im left with after reading through these difficult but necessary poems is one of optimism. Everyday she prays. Her references to pop music, odes to her pussy, and jokes about microaggressions are purposefully incongruous, and with them she defies the gaze that Zhang and Mehri write about. If They Come For Us is a navigation of home and family, religion and sexuality, history and love. A homeland, even one never seen, sticks in her blood; the trauma endured by her ancestors lives within her DNA. "[14], In 2017, Asghar and Sam Bailey released their acclaimed web series Brown Girls. The kids at school ask me where Im from & I have no answer. As the poem progresses, Asghar becomes further distanced from the events, seeming to remember less and less. he was there. Her work is well-regarded in all circles and has been included in Poetry Magazine and other famous publications. Smell Is the Last Memory to Go Fatimah Asghar 60. on visits back your english sticks to everything. All rights reserved. The speaker's feelings of belonging until threatened in India-Pakistan and un-belonging until invited in America penetrate the anthology, imbuing each poem with a degree of duality and division. Fatimah Asghar is the author of the poetry collection If They Come for Us (One World/Random House, 2018) and the chapbook After (Yes Yes Books, 2015). Raye was a finalist for the 2018 Keene Prize for Literature and received honorable mentions for poetry from both Southern Humanities Reviews Witness Poetry Prize (2014) and AWPs Intro Journals Project (2015). All the people I could be are dangerous. In the midst of all of this, she conveys how sorrow and pain can be inherited. The mother of Kausar, Aisha and Noreen - the youngest to oldest of three sisters - died years ago. Her uncle described how the family was forced to leave Kashmir for Lahore and told her about the impact of being refugees in a new land affected them. The expansion of the popular landscape of poetry leaves more room for writing that isnt limited to representation, and for a readership outside of the white gaze. Monroe's "Open Door" policy, set forth in Volume I of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry's mission: to print the best poetry written today, regardless of style, genre, or approach. Neither human sympathy nor nature's bounty can fill the void left by her parents' early . Her work has appeared in the New York Review of Books Daily, unbag, and the Ploughshares blog. This conflict ended in anything but compromise. In 2011, she created a spoken word collective in Bosnia and . from a poisonous one. a little symphony, so round. One quick perusal through the shelves of world literature in any bookstore confirms just what the literary world wants to see from writers of color and writers from developing nations: trauma, she writes. In these poems, Asghar invites us to stare into the wound andhopefullylearn from it. Asghars approach is similarly multimodal. It is a paean to her familyblood and notwho she turns to steadily, out of the past and into a shared future: weve survived the long / years yet to come I see you map / my sky the light your lantern long / ahead & I follow I follow.. Sacraments Ladan Osman 62. [13], Along with her orphanhood, the legacy of Partition is another major theme in her poetry. Ive never been to my daddys grave.My ache: two jet fuels ruining the suns set play. The poet and winner of the Restless Books New Immigrant Writing Prize on supporting DRUM and the work of Guyanese poet Martin Carter, copyright 2023 Asian American Writers' Workshop, she cites Douglas Kearney and Terrance Hayes as influences, their Call for Necessary Craft and Practice,. A poet, a fiction writer, and a filmmaker, Fatimah cares less about genre and instead prioritizes the story that needs to be told and finds the best vehicle to tell it. With If They Come For Us Asghar joins a rich history of Partition literature. Snake Oil, Snake Bite Dilruba Ahmed 73 For poet Fatimah Asghar, the word 'orphan' has more than one meaning. If the speaker, who comes from a lineage of heartache and violence, and who lives through her own kinds of violence, can still look at this country that has failed every immigrant to enter its harbor and find kindness in the cracks, how can we not too have hope for a better, more inclusive, kinder future? just in case, I hear her say. 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