If They Should Come for Us

What is your reaction to the poem?

frazzled and inspired to look at people. empowered

a) why so?

reminds me that there are many other people that are sharing burdens that are familiar to us

and the community is made up of individuals with unique faces and stories that should be told and respected, 

-diction: choice of navigating speech prevalent in compasses and constellations and stars; seeing the multicultural diversity confirms her identity, leading her out from being lost and bringing into the reassurance of unity amongst such diverse people. 

Usage of nature right after the mention of specific aspects of culture: natural as nature:

Indian: sari dissolving to wind/ Hindu: bindi a new moon on her forehead/ afro: hair a fountain of dandelion seed/  Hindi: dupattas turn to ocean

which gives a representation of a wide visual scope that zooms with versatility (multiple transitioning from the big picture of finding her way to follow, to specific scenes of her 'home')

-tone: happy, passionate, energized, vibrant, youthful, hopeful, empowering. Young persona narrating her conviction to the people she recognises as her own, though sometimes she isn't recognised as one of them.

-imagery: flashing scenes of rich visual, auditory and olfactory imagery, detailing the specific differences in each different cultures, thereby recognising them for who they actually are instead of collectively grouping them up by stereotypes and/or by the colour of their skin.  

a thousand jasmines bell the air: compound imagery

-sound: consonance, alliteration, 

-form: tumbling enjambment and non-punctuation allows no opportunity for stops and gives the impression of non-stop traffic in the exploring and the following process of her people. pulls the reader to see each scene, following the narrator as they rove through different notations of culture.

What is your understanding of the poem?

a) What is it about? 
celebrating the spectrum of Ethnic identities.

A woman intertwined with the diverse lives of very real marginalised people in her community, unashamed and recognising every one of their identities, even claiming them to be 'her people', as the identity of being a minority living in a foreign country.

 Life happens as she follows her lens of sight on people juxtaposing them. 

Subtle discrimination, doesn't want to be swamped by the masses into isolation and loneliness, so must have a celebration of culture, so felt a need to voice 'my people' 'my people'.

-how much of your understanding is influenced by your position?

initial understanding was heavily influenced by my position as I wasn't neutral enough to notice how the uniqueness of a multiracial environment could affect a society that had deep roots in racial conflicts that differ from my own country.

 If They Should Come for Us

BY FATIMAH ASGHAR

these are my people & I find

them on the street & shadow       consonance  alliteration

through any wild all wild

my people my people                      repetition

a dance of strangers in my blood        metaphors

the old woman’s sari dissolving to wind

bindi a new moon on her forehead

I claim her my kin & sew

the star of her to my breast                     allusion to Jewish star, representing her identity

the toddler dangling from stroller

hair a fountain of dandelion seed

at the bakery I claim them too

the sikh uncle at the airport

who apologizes for the pat

down the muslim man who abandons

his car at the traffic light drops

to his knees at the call of the azan

& the muslim man who sips

good whiskey at the start of maghrib

the lone khala at the park

pairing her kurta with crocs

my people my people I can’t be lost

when I see you my compass

is brown & gold & blood

my compass a muslim teenager

snapback & high-tops gracing

the subway platform

mashallah I claim them all

my country is made

in my people’s image

if they come for you they

come for me too in the dead

of winter a flock of

aunties step out on the sand

their dupattas turn to ocean

a colony of uncles grind their palms

& a thousand jasmines bell the air

my people I follow you like constellations

we hear the glass smashing the street

& the nights opening their dark

our names this country’s wood

for the fire my people my people

the long years we’ve survived the long

years yet to come I see you map

my sky the light your lantern long

ahead & I follow I follow

 feelings of community, fatimah 
gemeinschaftsgefühl