She is also the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominatedBrown Girls, a web series that highlights friendships between women of color. [12] It was not until she was in college that Asghar learned about how the Partition of India had deeply impacted her family. Elsewhere, a new history / Of touch, not pitted against the land. Freedom Bar Asnia Asim 71. I collect words where I find them. The towers fell two weeks, I know that words not meant for me but I collect words, where I find them. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Fatimah Asghar is an award-winning poet, whose widespread collection of poetry, If They Come for Us, has created her international fame. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Sign up for the Asian American Writers' Workshop Newsletter: Asian American Writers Workshop With If They Come For Us Asghar joins a rich history of Partition literature. Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. I went to India once, to find myself.. Multiple poems, all titled Partition, navigate not only the literal and historical meaning of the Partition, but also the divisions of the home, of gender, familyand, at times, how those divisions might be reconciled, if possible. This is the other bind of writing mass historical trauma into poetrythat true representation is necessarily impossible, but also that diasporic writing about Partition is often accused of exploiting historical violence for the sake of personal narrative and aesthetics. stranger. "And in a lot of ways we are. Heres your auntie, in her best gold-threaded shalwaarkameez, made small by this land of american men. This page is not available in other languages. 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. After the Orlando Shooting Juniper Cruz 65. But we loved our story: the gazebo / that dared to live on concrete. With Gazebo, Asghar begins to bridge the common occurrence of death with the power and fortified resilience that come with surviving in spaces where oppression is commonplace. His body is sent to Pakistan. Her work often celebrates her heritage, gender, and sexuality. 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. They cant touch anyone without teeth & spitunless one strips the other of their human skin. & my boy, my lovely boyhe clawed & bit & cried just likewe were back on the dirt playground. Play is critical in the development of their work, as is intentionally building relationship and . revealed to be a white man writing under a Chinese womans name. 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. 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. 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. an edible flower Fatimah Asghar's brilliant offering is a dexterous blend of Old World endurance and New World bravado. But twist she does, and by doing so, opens herself to everything, from painful truths to the kindness of strangers. Sacraments Ladan Osman 62. 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. Examples include both visual and verbal instances, like the first square, which reads, White girl wearing a bindi at music festival, and another on the bottom row where an unnamed speaker says, I love hanging out with your family. Learn about the charties we donate to. Orphaned as a child and marginalized in America, Asghar captures the plight of alienation on a personal and political scale. my country is made / in my peoples image / if they come for you they / come for me too, she writes. Blood is an unwieldy metaphor. Like many territorial disputes, the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir, an ethnically diverse Himalayan region known for its natural beauty, was rooted in religion. 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. In it Asghar addresses my people my people / a dance to strangers in my blood. The poem references First they came, the oft-quoted Martin Niemller condemnation of Germans who acquiesced to Nazis, but where Niemller denounces the cowardice of those who didnt speak up for the persecuted, If They Come For Us is a firm declaration of loyalty and love to Asghars community. like your little cousin who pops gum & wears bras now: a stranger. Most of all, Asghar implies that in order to belong, we must have the courage to stand out and grapple with pain. Learning about her family's firsthand experience during partition had a profound effect on Asghar and her work. Her work has been featured on news outlets such as PBS, NPR, Time, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, and others. I yelled to my sister knapsacks ringing against our backs. Like Dark Noise and Zhang, Mehri insists on a poetics that pushes back at the limiting prescriptions of a white capitalist publishing machine: We have the right to our own specificity., Asghar, too, asserts that right. Kalmeans I wake to her strange voice. Her work is well-regarded in all circles and has been included in Poetry Magazine and other famous publications. Asghar's identity as an orphan is a major theme in her work, her poem "How'd Your Parents Die Again?" She refers to herself, not unlovingly, as a boy-girl. Towards the center of the poem, that desire for a guiding maternal figure enters with the lines, Mother, where are you? the sweet, rich scent, / the cream and white of the magnolia blossom. [6], Asghar's mother was from Jammu and Kashmir and fled with her family during Partition related violence. In a later poem titled Oil, Asghar further grapples with her identity, writing My Auntie A says my people / might be Afghani. I learned that India had been split into two, with Hindus residing in Indian territories and Muslims living in Pakistan. The novel follows the coming of age of three sisters who are orphaned following the sudden murder of their father. Fatimah Asghar. She is also the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated Brown Girls, a web series that highlights friendships between women of color. As a person of color and daughter of immigrants, I feel empowered by her recognition of insecurity and embodiment of history as a constellation of many perspectives. 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). Ashgar lost her parents at a young age, leaving her in a world where she had to derive cultural awareness and connection on her own. "I have no blood. 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?" In each of the books seven Partition poems, Asghar traces its legacy, but she also considers the metaphorical and physical partitions of her life. 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,. In essence, the speakers world is as dissected and limiting as the Bingo board. But whenever its on you watchthem snarl like mad dogs in a cagethese american men. 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. I draw a ship on the map. just in case, I hear her say. her knees fold on the rundown mattress, a prayer to WWEHer tasbeeh & TV: the only things she puts before her husband. Blood versus oil, the girl she knows herself to be versus the political self, victimized by the state. It seemed peaceful enougheach group would have their separate homes. Threads of embodying courage in the face of danger are woven into the anthology, building on Asghars initial juxtaposition of death and resilience in For Peshawar'' and Gazebo. Asghar, who has a fierce reputation of wielding words packed with sharpness and intelligence, likewise challenges the conventional practices of writing poetry. If They Come For Us leaves readers with fear and uncertainty of a nation that has become arduous and burdensome for immigrants. Poems covered in the Educational Syllabus. Written by Asghar and directed by Bailey, the series is based on Asghar's friendship with the artist Jamila Woods and their experiences as two women of color navigating their twenties. I know you can bend time.I am merely asking for whatis mine. Used with the permission of the poet. "When your people have gone through such historical violence, you cannot shake it. She motions readers like myself towards a more compassionate understanding of history which has been narrated by vagueness beyond a 300-word synopsis that tries to encapsulate an intricately layered pastand a realization that violence can live through generations. 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). Jan 02, 2023 | By Fatimah Asghar | American Poetry Review Verified. Asghar in a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim-American author, creator, poet, screenwriter and educator who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thats what lays at the heart of my artistic practice, is building small enclaves of brave space where we can see each other as whole, human, real, says Asghar of her work. Her selfhood is foreclosed by 9/11 and the resulting culture of fear and xenophobia: the ship sinks, her blood clots. Asghar continues to elaborate on this community, writing my people my people I cant be lost / when I see you my compass is brown & gold & blood / my compass a Muslim teenager / snapback & hightops gracing the subway platform, further stressing how she is able to lean on those who have sacrificed for herthose who have been and continue to be there for her. Thank you for your support. 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. 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. 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? If They Come For Us , by Fatimah Asghar (One World/Penguin Random House, 2018). "People talk about genre like it's so stringent," she says. black grass swaying in the field, glint of gold in her nose. it makes of my mouth. In her debut poetry collection, If They Come For Us, Fatimah Asghar has a poem titled Oil that is really about blood, and that recognizes the significance of its fluidity. 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). 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. It also runs through a nations body, binding its citizens together through a supposedly shared ancestral origin. Rita Dove is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former poet laureate of the United States. from the soil. Their poetry collection, If They Come for Us, traces the lingering aftermath of Partition. The speakers feeling of un-belonging continues even at home, as she comes of age without the guidance of a mother and father. Is it the physical ground that separates, or the people, whose homes, languages, and rituals are woven into the land? But twist she does, and by doing so, opens herself to everything, from painful truths to the kindness of strangers. Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a South-Asian American Muslim writer. "[16], Brown Girls received an Emmy nomination in 2017 in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category. Please choose below to continue. 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? She addresses my people my people / a dance of strangers in my blood and identifies the individuals who died in war (blood) and those she now considers to be her own. I think we are at war! As though I told you how the first time.Everyone always tries to theft, bring them back out the grave.Let them rest; my parents stay dead. he was there toothe day on Bens couch, wearingmy skirt, ranking the girls, in class. I copy -catted from Frances who whispered it when the teachers got silent. a little symphony, so round. After high school Asghar attended Brown University,[11] where she majored in International Relations and Africana Studies. She smiles as guilty as a bride without blood, her loveof this new country, cold snow & naked american men. "I felt a palpable difference. The expansion of the popular landscape of poetry, Love Letter to the Eve of the End of the World, Recycling Poetry in a Time of Climate Change. Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and a Kundiman Fellow. they say it so often, it must be your name now, stranger. 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. Originally published in Poetry (March, 2017). These inheritances seep from country to country, body to body, and word to word, generating animosity and division. togetherwe watched it throb, open & closebegging for wet. Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Fatimah Asghar is a poet, filmmaker, and educator. 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. If They Come For Us gives readers lyrically beautiful but painfully true glimpses into a world we may not be familiar with and asks us to reckon with our place in itwhether thats a place of commiseration, understanding, or of recognizing our own hand in upholding power structures that thrive off racism, xenophobia, and nationalism. You know its true & try to help, but what can you do?You, little Fatimah, who still worships him? Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038, my people I follow you like constellations. Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a South-Asian American Muslim writer. Her work has appeared in the New York Review of Books Daily, unbag, and the Ploughshares blog. from the soil. "In. Asghar is a member of the Dark Noise Collective[3] and a Kundiman Fellow. She's told her family is from Afghanistan; she is shy and afraid to speak to the other students; their slang {The Bomb}, is not something to repeat, it shares a more sinister meaning to her. The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. With precise words, she expresses that the dirge, our hearts, pounds vicious, as we prepare / the white linen, ready to wrap our bodies. The conversation around death and the normalization of the ritual of burying bodies highlights just how routine violent oppression was in Peshawar during the partition. Asghars book is many things: defiant, subversive, grief-stricken, angrybut its also full of things like bravery, friendship, family, and love. Fatimah Asghar Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. In the same poem, the speakers sister defies Islamic law by shaving her arms, and Asghar writes in response, Haram, I hissed, but too wanted to be bare / armed & smooth, skin gentle & worthy / of touch. That is, until the sisters body betrays her with an ingrown hair that lands her in the hospital. The text, formed from the scraps of a burned notebook chronicling a circuitous reverse diaspora, is deliberately fragmented and refuses easy interpretation. In the opening pages of Fatimah Asghar's When We Were Sisters, an immigrant father leaves home to get bunk beds for his three children and is murdered in the street. 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 . Kal means shes oiling my hairbefore the first day of school. Partition, the 1947 cleaving of British-ruled India into three separate countries, India, Pakistan, and now-Bangladesh, serves as the central trauma of the collection. 2017 Poetry Foundation In 2011 she created a spoken word poetry group in Bosnia and Herzegovina called REFLEKS while serving a Fulbright fellowship, where she studied theater in post-genocidal countries. If They Come For Us is a navigation of home and family, religion and sexuality, history and love. Now that youre older your auntie calls to say he hither again, that this didnt happen before he became american. 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. A collection of poems, prose, and audio and video recordings that explore Islamic culture. 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 the poem Microaggression Bingo, Asghar uses the physical image of a bingo board to highlight the frequency of those microaggressions the speaker faces on a daily basis. The cultural memory that lives in the speakers body is inescapable, but rather than run from it, she faces it boldly, writes it down, and shares it. It is a call for a poetics that combats those relationships: We reject attitudes that view the lives of marginalized and terrorized people as profit, as click-bait, as tickets to fame, as anything but people deserving of better.. Kal means Im in the crib. But Asghar recognizes the limits and violence of language. Big and muscular, neck full of veins, bulging in the pen.Her eyes kajaled & wide, glued to sweaty american men. And muscular, neck full of veins, bulging in the field, glint of gold in nose! 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