"I'm Not a Woman in Afghanistan"

Be careful with your utterances....

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

Your ink spurts thick, bold and unafraid.

You were not made to give it up,

Like something sinful, contraband.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

You don’t speak with a trimmed tongue,

Sing with a throttled throat,

Pray with murdered hope.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

You live on the fat of the earth

And have the gumption to brag about it,

While they bleed in whispers.

Your windows weren’t cemented.

Your doors weren’t sealed like graves.

You can walk out, slam them behind you,

Yet not be slammed into walls.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

You stand tall. You don’t cower, crouch.

You don’t suffer blows that

Make you buckle at the knees.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

It’s your pleasure to poetise

Anything from a penis to paradise,

Without being condemned and stoned.

Your verses will not be banned.

You can fill pages galore with them.

You don’t have to smuggle each syllable,

Stow away each line under a veil.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

Your books aren’t shredded, 

Your sisters don’t vanish out of the blue

You don’t mumble through stitched lips.

To you, poetry is a mirror,

You keep tilting and turning

For the best angle of self.

To them, it's a verse on fogged glass,

Proof of their breath.

To you, poetry is akin to feasts,

Laid out for accolades.

To them, verses are crumbs,

Tucked inside yearning mouths.

To you, poetry is a celebration

Of life’s rhythm, joys and woes,

While their verses are like flares,

Desperate and brief in their burn.

Yet what can’t be written or recited

Blooms deep within the breast,

Where bans are ineffectual,

Where fires blaze as wild forests.

And ink is sly, it seeps into tombstones,

Finding the faintest breath.

It glows in the bleakest flame,

Dancing in snuffed candle smoke.

You’re not a woman in Afghanistan.

Your breeze is free, your sky is fair.

But they, of trapped flesh, soar in spirit,

Way higher than you ever will.

~~~~~~

Author's Note

Women are banned from writing or reading poetry in Afghanistan but they're still daring to do it.

Thank you for reading.

Reviews

[Michael Sun Bear]

Wow! I need to pay more attention to your writing. This is brilliant, moving and needed. Living in the U.S., sometimes I grieve that so few seem to care about the suffering of others in other parts of the world.
“Dancing in snuffed candle smoke” is just one of your lines that I will savor for a while. I am going to save this. Very well done.

[DIVYA]

I'm so happy you liked this poem. Truly encouraged by your appreciation. It means a lot and helps me go on.

[Betty Hermelee]

Very emotional writing dear Divya
you really show in your beautiful and powerful words what it's like to be a woman in Afghanistan; your words are deep, meaningful, and excruciatingly painful at the same time...the repetition surely works here and paints an ugly portraiture of life for women....quite restrained and miserable....Thank you dear friend for this eye-opener!!!
Warmly, B xoxox

[poetic swan]

Powerful and urgent, confronting freedom versus oppression. Vivid imagery and stark contrasts evoke empathy, sorrow, and admiration for courage.

[DIVYA]

Thanks a lot Poetic Swan. Good to see you today.

[John the Baptist]

Well, D., something really ignited you on this one! I would pity any Taliban types who encountered you when you're really wound up. Seriously, I like the way you built this one up as looking down on Afghan women all the way down to the last verse, when you hold them up as objects of admiration. I must second that opinion. If under the iron fist of oppression they still write and read poetry, they will prevail some day.

[DIVYA]

Thank you so much John.

Indeed, if I ever had to fight those roaches, I won't go down before taking out 2-3 of them. :)

I had read an article in The Guardian about how Taliban had declared a 'war on verses' by women as they think it promotes immorality. Reprisal is quick for disobedience and usually comes in the form of death. That's why, those women are pure awesome for daring to still write. God bless them and help them.

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Shaw]

I have read this poem several times DIVYA, and also researched further on the internet. Your stanzas are an education, this poem a fine example of what should be taught in the curriculum in secondary schools. Freedom of expression should be cherished. Brave, brave women defying all to be heard. A powerful write.

Chris

[DIVYA]

Dear Chris,

My most heartfelt thanks, my dear friend. Its so heartening to read your appreciation here. We can only be there with those unfortunate women, in spirit and in words. We can pray their lot gets better, though that hope is bleak and waning.
May you have a blessed week, dear friend. ❤️💐

[jacob erin-cilberto]

All that poetry that could go unwritten or unread...So glad they are daring to defy the stupid restrictions.
Women in some of those countries are treated worse than dirt.
It is shameful.
This poem shows your strength as a person and a poet.
j.

[DIVYA]

Poetry should make a difference. We as self proclaimed poets should keep trying every now and then. We owe it to the art.

Thank you for your appreciation, Jacob.

[AJNJ]

Well written maa'm. You disturbed my mind. This poem should reach far beyond your page, to every entitled
a-hole that loosely comment after boozing.

[DIVYA]

Thank you so much for stopping by on this one, dear AJ. Yes, it could be booze, otherwise who'd be so silly. Visit more. Long time since you did. 💕

[JMichael]

A very bold and defiant poem, this one.

Both at once a poetic description of life for women living under the iron veil of the Taliban, while also being a cautioning word for those that take their freedom of written expression for granted and who, in their ignorance, use throwaway lines to defile the misfortune and cultures of others.

I find it quite sad that after two decades of war against the Taliban and the terrorists they were harbouring and allied with, that the pathetically incompetent withdrawal capitulation of the Biden Administration led straight back to the Taliban resuming control of the country and revoking the freedom of Afghani women and children all over again. We westerners can never comprehend what life is truly like living under Taliban rule where getting an education or pursuing the simple freedom of engaging in arts is outlawed. Yet, knowing this, there are still those who live under the forever blue skies of Freedom who choose to denigrate those with snarky, uninformed opinions about the worth of their lives and their struggle. I guess some just live with their faces preening in a mirror and their empathy buried like an ostrich head in the sand.

This is an important poem that shines a spotlight on the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves whose freedom is denied them simply because of their born gender and their sad reality of having to exist under the thumb of a regime that has its doctrine firmly stuck in the Middle Ages. Well written.

[DIVYA]

Thank you so much dear JMichael, for caring to leave such kind and thoughtful comments on this poem. You know the background of this poem and the cause of the ire that made me pen this one. No one, however old or accomplished can deserve respect and regard if they aren't prudent in what they say and seem insensitive to women born in misfortune and dying fighting it. And if they're unremorseful, here's wishing them a birth as a woman in Afghanistan, after they cark on their present, priviledged existence. This poem was brewing for months in my head and only yesterday got spilled on this page.

My special thanks and love to you, as always. ❤️

[DIVYA]

"those who live under the forever blue skies of Freedom who choose to denigrate those with snarky, uninformed opinions"

~ So true. And to this, I have to say - what have they accomplished in this world, except be born under the right sky?

Yes?