My Mother
Mohammad Rafiq, translated by Carolyn B. Brown

this unfamiliar tree bearing fruit over here
it's my mother

mango and rose-apple, pomegranate, pear
or maybe star-apple, hogplum too
guava, pomelo, kamranga
so much pain and love, sacrifice and patience

as if all the pronouns of the world
the adjectives, nouns, and prepositions
of a village too, a field, a map with no form

are my mother's other names
expelled from heaven
crossing timidly over to the underworld

Rafiq's Introduction

"Open Poem"

Glossary to "Open Poem"

Selections from Bishkale Sandya

When Will It Rain

My Mother

No One Belonging to Me

At Aricha Ghat

Unresolved

A Winter's Tale

download printer-friendly version of "Open Poem" or of the selections

Back to the Current Issue