Women in purdah
Await the train from north:
One, a monument,
Fingers locked, meditating;
The other,
Scanning the page in vogue
Through her black veil.
Southwards,
The rails stretch silver
In the dawning light.
*****
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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oops I forgot to clap
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Interesting comparisons here, the different actions suggesting (to me) different backgrounds yet the south stretching rails suggest shared origins. The comparison of traditional dress with fashion magazine suggests change now or in the future (north stretching rails).
I am not sure why I assosciate north with forward, south with backward
but there it is.
Your thoughtful work is making me think as well.
Thank You.
Jim -
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It is subconscious, Jim. Coming from a 'South' country, south to me is forward, as north to you is forward...The scene in my piece, however, is a real one. Not even the south and north were changed to suit the idea I wanted to conveny. 'Purdah' is a black cloak covering from head to foot devote Muslim women wear. One nowadays finds more and more purdah-clad women in my country apparently because of the growing influence of fundamentalist elements in the religion. Young men and women are being made to flaunt their religion...Now you can read the observation I wanted to convey.
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I am fortunate that I have lived (and taught) for most of my life within a multicultural community and so am aware of purdah as both a mode of dress and as a way of dividing the sexes. Only I feel, from conversations with youngsters involved, that often it is a case of wanting to announce their religion rather than being forced to flaunt it.
Jim
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nice contrast
The women are dressed the same and both wait for the train, but their minds are completely different. The image of the rails is good, but I'm not sure it adds to the poem.
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My latest pieces are attempts at presenting things as I truly see and feel at moments of heightened sensitivity. No imaginative distortions, no poetic artifices, no selections or deletions from the whole. Trying to go beyond the mould of the word...(Smiles).
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