‘Poetry And – Human Rights’, a free discussion and meet-the-author book signing with prize-winning poet and lawyer Mona Arshi and Shadow Attorney General and member of the House of Lords Shami Chakrabarti, curated by Ruth Padel, takes place on Wednesday 28 November in King’s College London’s elegant Council Room on the Strand, 7.15-9pm. Please register for this free event, with free drinks reception after, here.
Below is a poem by Mona from her new collection Dear Big Gods, to be published by Pavilion Poetry in Spring 2019.
Let the Parts of the Flower Speak
i. pedicel You think you have illumed me because you have translated me? Please read me variantly with a green fevered mind. ii. ovary There’s nothing sharp in this house. All my terrors my crowded out babies,half/half- trembling little faces of gold. I have no other vision than this. iii. filament I have certain tendencies and these tendencies may conflict with your tendencies most certainly. iv. petal/izaat/respect what would a faithful rendering have demanded? Petal etiquette; How does one bear it? bharish/bimaree This is my dharma turning yellow after initial growth. v. stamen The curse: almost certainly mis- pronounced by a man. Draw me faithfully-bitch, stable-witch What does my ambiguity permit? vi. style I am not observant, Why are you bringing God into this? And this my love is going nowhere. vii. sepal My little bastard verses tiny polyglot faces how light you are how virtually weightless. viii. anther Speak into me with your mouth close to my humming surface beyond flower memory piercing leaf and loam past rootlets through the aortic arch glinting hearts of the rosy-tipped worm.