Four Poems

February 13, 2020

By Kashiana Singh 

Re-calibrating Kashmir

strangely she rests empty, our Dal¹
tilted, untethered on her wild lilies
her tears silent, a vacant silhouette
emptied guns, bullets abandoned
within her emerald womb, ropes
knotting grief in dreadlocks, her
paddles whisper to waves, piercing
silence into an opaque sunset azaan²
the coal in her kangri³ wonders why
chinars⁴ once stately, now watch over
a dead summer, a desolate cemetery
weary her prayer flutters, collecting pain
underneath her shikaras⁵, words abandoned
in fissures of her boats as she stays afloat
gathering kahwa⁶ stains, unflinching
a withered hand lifts the poems from
the gaping wounds of her heart
placing them into rancid blooms
marigolds, lotus, orchids, apple blossoms
and orchids, her songs stay unspoken
under a vaporized
moon, it crawls over
her latticed walnut screens
as an unlit lantern flickers
a poet is a gatherer, words scribbled
Kashmiriyat⁷ is a poem, dribbled
in its own carcass, memorialized
tethered to a waterbed, stationary
moored, adrift under stolen skies
empty and unable to sing her song
⁸gur Firdaus bar-rue zamin ast, hami asto, hamin asto, hamin ast

¹dal – the famous lake is called dal lake in Kashmir
²azan – call for prayer
³kangri – basket with coal embers for heat under woollen kimono gowns
⁴chinars – tall trees – Platanus orientalis
⁵shikaras – wooden canoes
⁶kahwa – Kashmiri healing herb tea
⁷ Kashmiriyat is the ethno-national and social consciousness and cultural values of the Kashmiri people. Emerging around the 16th century, it is characterised by religious and cultural harmony, patriotism and pride for their mountainous homeland of Kashmir.
⁸“gur Firdaus bar-rue zamin ast, hami asto, hamin asto, hamin ast” – If there is a heaven on earth it is here it is here it is here said Mughal Emperor Jehangir when he visited Kashmir in the 17th Century 

*** 

To the efficient women of Shaheen Bagh

The orange sky fissures with a frantic lotus
You bloom backward like a raging calypso
in sweaty marshlands of the feeling restless

The dead keep coming in stages of grief
You gather your lungs in wailing dupattas
in invocations crawling out of your mouths

The arrows of your eyes pierce into a fog
You conquer hysteria with textured words
in flags of fingers festooned into poems

The finale of our kingdom has been undecided
You scribble its coastline with a kohl eyed song
in immaculate clarity you chant a homecoming

You trample, across all Lakshman Rekhas¹ into
a sea of Sultana, Ameena, Devaki, Bilkis, Aishi²

of

vande mataram³
vande mataram
vande mataram 

¹Lakshman Rekha – Lakshmana Rekha, is referred to in the story of Ramayana as the line drawn by Lakshman around the dwelling meant to protect Sita, while he is away searching for Rama.  in modern Indian parlance, refers to a strict convention or a rule, never to be broken. It often refers to the ethical limits of an action, traversing which may lead to undesirable consequences.
²Sultana, Ameena, Devaki, Bilkis, Aishi – Common Muslim and Hindu female names
³vande matram – An ode to the Motherland, it means “I praise thee, Mother” or “I praise to thee, Mother”.
It is a hymn to Goddess Durga, identified as the national personification of India.
Vande Mataram is a Bengali poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1870s. The poem was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore in 1896 and the first two verses of the song were adopted as the National Song of India.

***

everyday you play 

One

sunlight shines bright
girl peeps into bakery
strings a lovely sunset

Two

following lover
bridal store sparkles bright
naked mannequin

Three

at engraver’s shop
my grandfather’s pocket watch
will never carry

Four

bonnie lass blushes
solitaire ring sits careless
in pawnshop window

Five

holiday sales
a winter morning snowflake
departing shoppers

Six

carved window frame
painted temple deities adorn
voiceless man plays flute

Seven

blistered sky
facing the orbiting moon
everyday you play

Eight

everyday you play
with deboned blood and skulls
a nation pleads

***

Bio:
Kashiana Singh is a management professional by job classification and a work practitioner by personal preference. Kashiana’s TEDx talk was dedicated to Work as Worship. Her poetry collection, Shelling Peanuts and Stringing Words presents her voice as a participant and an observer. Her poems have been published on various platforms including Poets Reading the News, Visual Verse, Oddball Magazine, TurnPike Magazine, Dissident Voice, Feminine Collective, Spillwords, Poetry Super Highway. You can listen to her reciting her work on Rattle Open Mic sessions, Songs of Selah podcast and Poetry Super Highway episodes. Kashiana lives in Chicago and carries her various geographical homes within her poetry.

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